10 Kinds of Trouble
by Rapidfyrez
Summary: It started with a war between the Autobots and Decepticons. That was bad enough to get dragged into. And then something fell from the sky, something that could change the course of the war for a long time. Problem is, it's grown a bit attached to Jack, and he has no idea how to get rid of it. He'll have to learn to use it instead. Learn to be a hero, and a soldier. Or die trying.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: It Started When…

Life can be a bit funny if you think about it. Really think about it. Odds are that things have changed for you drastically in some way shape or form. You might have befriended someone you never expected to befriend, or you could have lost a family member. Maybe you got married and are finally starting a family.

Either way, it's funny how fast the status quo can change, and how desperate some people will get trying to return to it. The familiarity of it is a comfort I guess. Not much else to say about it, when things stay the same, we feel safer. Fair enough, when you live a normal life things will be pretty much the same.

Oh sure you might change houses occasionally, or maybe lose a friend or two. But ultimately your life stays the same. Funny thing is, my life used to be the exactly the same for me. Not much changed, I just went to school, suffered through our tremendously flawed education system, and then went to work at a dead end job at a fast food burger joint at minimum wage. Living the American Dream. Can you hear my sarcasm?

Well anyway, this was pretty standard affair in my life. That was of course, until two key events changed my life. The first was when I left my job to bike home. Standard affair, right? Well, it was, right up until I saw an amazing sport bike parked outside. It was a deep blue with some odd pink highlights, but it was amazing nonetheless. Smooth curves, a powerful air to it, and something just…drew me to it.

Of course, that turned out to be the point where I should've realized that was a bad idea. See, the thing is, the slightest change from the daily routine can lead to the biggest changes. And sitting on that bike, just to get the feel of what it would be like to own one, one day? Yeah, that lead to the second biggest change in my life.

Because that bike suddenly reared out from under me, and get this, _started driving on its own! _Hey, don't go running off yet! The story gets better, I swear!

Anyway, the bike took off with me on it. And at the exact same time two big purple muscle cars started chasing me, or rather the bike. I thought my day couldn't get any weirder. Then the bike started talking to me. And two thoughts registered to me. One, the bike was talking and it sounded like a girl. Weird enough, but I was distracted more by the second thought. The fact that I may have unintentionally groped a woman.

Whoops.

But ignoring my accidental molestation, this bike would eventually reveal to me that she was a giant 20 foot tall metal robot. That could turn into vehicles. I'm dead serious here, I wouldn't have believed it myself until we got cornered in a canal and she transformed before my very eyes. She fought those big purple cars who were _also _transforming robots. Naturally, I wanted to just run for cover.

Didn't work out though, because I ran into a classmate, Raf Esquivel. About 12 or 13, he's a nice kid and a bit of a child prodigy. I'd never really talked to him at the time, but I kept him safe from the robots as best as I could, being the 5'8 string bean that I am. Not the best defense I admit, but what would you have done?

But surprisingly, we managed to get away. I passed off what we saw as a onetime thing, something best easily forgotten… Except that the robots came back for us the next day. And then took us to their secret base where we met their leader, Optimus Prime. Not going to lie here, that bot is huge and was probably the reason I wound up sticking around.

Because despite being a giant, the Prime speaks very eloquently. I was a bit surprised in all honesty. But my surprise didn't end there, as he explained what I'd gotten myself into. An ancient intergalactic war between his faction, the Autobots, and their enemies the Decepticons. Sounds like something out of a bad 80's cartoon, I know, but bare with me here.

Optimus explained that the Con's, that's our nickname for them, wanted galactic domination and that their war basically made their planet die. So they evacuated and a small number of the Autobots landed on Earth. And then the Decepticons followed, and basically declared war on Earth. And our governments were keeping this a secret from us as a way to prevent mass panic. Smart move.

But after learning all of that, things just got weird. And that's saying something. There was a whole plot to stop a zombie robot army (Not as cool as it sounds), a racing debacle that was more my fault then I normally like to admit, a dangerous encounter with a homicidal spider and terrorists, and then the world almost blew up. And that all happened within three months. Talk about a hell of a way to spend your free time.

I'm rambling though. The point is that a lot of crazy stuff happened over that time period, and the funny thing is? I wouldn't trade it for the world. The Autobots were a great change in my life; heck Optimus made me an honorary Prime! Long story, not really that important right now.

But you're probably wondering by now, who am I? And more importantly, if this is only the second weirdest thing to happen in your life, what is the weirdest? Well, I can answer both those questions, though one will take longer then you'd expect.

First, my name is Jack. Jack Darby. And I'm just your average teen from the middle of nowhere, Jasper Nevada. It's a small town, not a lot too it if you don't mention the giant alien robots. Nice enough place, just a bit drab. I guess that's why the Autobots where hiding out nearby, no one would expect to find them here, in the middle of nowhere.

Of course, you're still hanging onto that whole 'amazingly weird event', aren't you? Well, if you're that curious, allow me to enlighten you. But for the whole story to make sense, I'll have to tell you the bits I didn't know about until much later. It'll all make sense, I promise.

Now, where do I start first? Oh, right, it all started in orbit around Earth…

_Earth Orbit…_

Two starships flashed over the mosaic that was Earth, speeding at a rate that would seem insane to any human. The lead ship was small but sleek, with smooth curves and an overall aerodynamic appearance to its light blue hull. It was desperately trying to shake the second ship that had relentlessly pursued it for several days now.

This ship was much larger, easily three times larger than its target. Its hull was a muddy red, almost the color of rust honestly. It was very boxy, with two large prongs extending vertically from its base where a large energy cannon rested on the main hull. Several large bulbous red sphere's rested atop the hull, with many small finite hair shaped sensors dotted it. I'm not sure what purpose they served honestly, except to make the large ship even more intimidating.

But of course, it didn't need to look like a giant furry ship of death. It had the firepower to back its looks up, which it promptly demonstrated for the smaller blue ship. Bolts of red hot energy speared through the inky blackness of space, missing the ship sometimes by millimeters. It was only the smaller blue ships speed and maneuverability that kept it in one piece.

Well, that and the weapon on its stern that kept firing back at the larger ship every time it fired. And due to its size, it could not dodge the blasts. But its armor was so thick that every time the green lance of energy scratched against it, it only left a thin burn mark along its plating. Hardly damage to write home about.

Honestly, the only purpose this served was to annoy the captain of that larger ship to no end. Within the bridge of the ship, which was in the largest of the red tumor shaped sphere's, said captain sat. His many underlings were clad in bright orange armor with black plating covering their faces, chest, and hands. Large cylinders were implanted into their backs and they had six orange cybernetic eyes, three on either side of their faces.

The bridge itself was like the rest of the ship, big, imposing, and a rusty brown. But in all honesty, the ship's captain was the truly terrifying/eye-drawing feature of the bridge. He towered over his underlings at an easy eight feet tall, and clad in blood red armor so dark one might mistake it for black.

His hands where four fingered claws, with a lean body. This did not suggest he was weak though, because his body was lean like a predators. Fast and deadly, able to lash out and disembowel his opponent in a flash of claws or a blast of energy. And then of course, there was his face.

To this day his face still haunts my dreams. It was the only bit where his skin was exposed, revealing a sickly pale green skin, with darker green splotches covering his slimy hide. He had no hair at all, but along his chin where a beard would be, was a mass of long slithery tentacles, all as slimy and discolored as his face. And as if that wasn't enough, he had lips that matched his armor. Blood red so dark you could mistake it for black. But the worse feature? The one that was the piece de resistance on his disgusting face? The two beady red eyes that held a fury and madness to them that no one save for one person could possibly hope to match.

This was the captain of that vessel, the one that was hunting the smaller ship mercilessly. It held a cargo he desperately wanted. He had scoured the galaxy looking for it, tearing space stations, colony's, sometimes even tire civilizations apart, just for what that ship was carrying. And now, he finally had it in his grasp.

A sickening grin spread across his disgusting face as he leaned forward, "Redirect remaining power into our targeting computer. Focus all forward batteries on the engine." He rasped in a voice that sounded like the steel sliding against flesh.

One of the officers on the bridge let loose a chirp and his armored hands worked to fulfill his order. The Captain watched with perverse glee as his ship's systems charged up and they gained a lock on the smaller vessels engines.

"Fire." He ordered.

A beam of red hot energy surged forward and lanced through the ships rear compartment. For a moment it seemed as if it were just to cut clean through the ship and leave it disabled. But it must have hit a fuel line of sorts, because the entire rear of the vessel detonated into a ball of fire that the atmosphere free void of space quickly extinguished.

With its engines crippled, the vessel drifted off course, a literal field of debris surrounding it's stern where its engines once where. Atmosphere vented from the crippled vessel, and the Captain let loose a slow and sickening chuckle. After a week of playing cat and mouse, the device would finally be his.

One of the other officers, this one slightly larger and with less armor, looked at the Captain, "Order's my lord?" he asked in a monotone and synthetic voice.

His beady red eyes fell on the officer, "Prepare boarding parties and ready my personal ship. I am going to claim that which is rightfully mine!"

The officer nodded and turned back around to relay said orders. While he did, the Captain reclined in his chair, which rested on a high pedestal with a row of spikes surrounding the edge of the pedestal. This was a victory he would savor for years, one that would mark a turning point in his-

"Sir." The same officer beeped, interrupting his train of thought, "The vessel has just ejected it's cargo."

"What!?" the Captain surged to his feet, a look of rage scrawled across his face.

A visual appeared of the ship and he saw it. A tiny pod, no larger than his fist, had been ejected from the ship and was burning through the planet's atmosphere. Enraged, the Captain let out an angered roar and slammed his fist into the chair.

"Deploy the drones, I want it found now!" his officers immediately moved to relay his orders.

But somehow, through a miracle of effort and just plain luck, the tiny vessel had maneuvered itself so that its broadside was facing the larger vessel. While it was ill equipped on the stern for combat, its starboard weapons where far more powerful and deadly. A fact illustrated quite well when it opened fire on the Captain's ship.

He only had time to get out a strangled yell, before the fire exploded into the bridge and pain engulfed him. Following that, everything went dark. His entire ship went silent from the sudden attack, temporarily disabled and left to drift as aimlessly as it's pray. They hoped that this would be enough for now, because there was nothing left in their system.

The crew of that vessel could only head for the escape pods and hope. Hope that their cargo either was lost on this insignificant planet or that one of its inhabitants would find the cargo and keep it safe from their pursuer. Neither they, nor the Captain they had just attacked, could have imagined where it would end up.

_Jasper, Nevada…_

Now, you're probably wondering where I fit into all this. Average human kid and what does he have to do with the hunt for an intergalactic Mcguffin? Well, you'll see soon enough, trust me.

At the same time that those two starships where busy blowing each other to pieces though, I was suffering through something much, much worse. The ending hours of my shift at the K.O. Burger. Now, the K.O. Burger is one of the only real hamburger joint in Jasper, it's a small town after all. There are a few other restaurants of course, and a fairly large commercial district, but there were only a handful of burger joints.

And the K.O. Burger was the worst, at least from the working perspective. Long hours, awful pay, and a horrible boss who suffered from the 'the customer is always right' scrap that makes me want to tear out my hair sometimes. And I get to work the drive thru, yippee.

Or rather, I was working the drive thru. Because my shift at finally ended, thank god, and I was free to go and do what I always do. Head to the Autobot base, and with none other than the first Autobot I met. The same Autobot I had met three months ago, the femme named Arcee.

Now, Arcee's an interesting character amongst the bots. While they've all suffered in some way, I think Arcee has taken it the hardest during the war, save for Optimus. I know the other bots, mainly Bumblebee, have suffered too don't get me wrong. But Arcee is the one most affected by it, at least I think so.

See, during the war back on their home planet Cybertron, Arcee lost her partner to a sadistic Decepticon called Airachnid. The poor guy was killed right in front of her and Arcee apparently went through a withdrawn phrase. She never interacted with anyone and always tried to keep to herself. Which didn't really work when she met her next partner, Cliffjumper.

From what I was told, the mech was even feistier then her previous partner, Tailgate. He was a fighter and a bit of a joker. This of course meant he managed to get Arcee back to her normal self for a time. And then he died too, the same day Arcee and I met. Needless to say, she wasn't exactly a fan of mine when we first started working together.

She wasn't happy when Optimus paired us up with her as my guardian, and things were pretty awkward. But after a few weeks of working together, it seemed like she was starting to at least warm up to me. And after a few life or death situations, we've become good friends, to the point of spending a lot of our free time together.

She was even nice enough to wait for me to finish my shift! If that's not friendship, I don't know what is.

Either way, I exited the K.O. Burger, tossing that insufferable paper hat in the trash as I did. I rubbed my face and groaned before taking in a breath of fresh air that didn't smell entirely of grease and smoke. Common scents in my place of work, with the latter being far more common.

I dropped my hands and looked at the parking lot with a smile. Arcee was parked in her usual spot, leaning to the side to feign being an average motorcycle. She almost pulled off the illusion too.

"You forgot your kickstand." I told her, grabbing her handlebars and hopping onto her leather seat.

Arcee's rearview mirrors flicked to me almost annoyed. Or playful, it's hard to tell with her sometimes.

"It's uncomfortable. Not like anyone would notice anymore then a teenager talking to their motorcycle." she deadpan.

I smirked while putting my helmet on, "Touché, Arcee. Touché."

Arcee backed out of her parking spot and started making her way out of the lot with me in tow. Now there's one thing she and I can agree on despite our occasional bickering. We both love riding, and we both love to go fast. So needless to say, when we got onto the road, Arcee punched it.

Her engine roared and we raced forward at a blistering pace. The feeling of the wind speeding over your body, feeling perfectly balanced as you hit over 80 miles an hour… There are few ways to express how awesome it feels. Let's just say that I like it. A lot.

Arcee and I both enjoy it. Whenever she picks me up from anywhere, we tend to spend at least a good ten minutes just driving around the highways leading into Jasper as fast as we can. It's easily the highlight of our day if Con's aren't involved.

Which is why Arcee nearly cursed when she received a transmission from base, "What is it Ratchet?" she asked.

I could hear a bit of the transmission from the grumpy old medic. Ratchet wasn't a bad guy per say, but sometimes he was in a fairly foul mood. Though he seemed to be a lot happier and nicer ever since the whole 'Unicron almost blew up the Earth' incident. Long story, and I've rambled enough as it is.

_"I've detected a high concentration of Energon along the Canadian border. Optimus wants everyone assembled immediately." _he explained.

Arcee let out a small sigh, "Got it. I'll drop Jack off at home and I'll bridge to base. Arcee out."

Her mirrors flicked back to me almost apologetically, "Sorry Jack. You know how it is."

I gave a shrug, "No big deal Arcee, I understand. Bot business."

"Right." she agreed, "It all right if I drop you off here?"

"I can walk." I confirmed. The path from Jaspers commercial district to my home is fairly straightforward, about a ten minute walk. There's a large area of empty space between the suburbs I live in and the rest of Jasper, but I used to bike along them all the time before I met Arcee. If she was in a hurry, no point in wasting time dropping me off.

I could almost hear her smile at that, "Thanks Jack." she slowed to a stop and leaned to one side, letting me hop off.

"Don't mention it." I said, and waved her off, "Now go before Ratchet get's cranky."

Arcee shivered, "He might get wrench happy. Wouldn't want that." she snickered.

I just laughed, "Agreed. See ya tomorrow Arcee." I said.

"See you tomorrow." she agreed, and roared forward. I watch her get a small distance off before a large swirling vortex opened in front of her and swallowed her up. Oh, right. That's a ground bridge, a sort of portal the Autobots use to get from place to place by ripping a hole in space. It's actually really safe, but it'll make you want to heave your lunch. Speaking from experience here.

With Arcee gone, I was left alone on the side of the road as the night was slowly starting to fall. The distant horizon was turning a deep orange with the sky itself starting to twinkle with a few stars. One thing about the desert is that it's always a beautiful night, especially when you live in the middle of nowhere.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and began walking forward along the road, wishing I could whistle so I could whistle a tune of some kind. Something to keep my mind occupied while I walked. But honestly, I could only think about the recent events.

Optimus had lost his memory saving the planet from… itself, again long story, and he'd left me with the key to save him. Just an average kid off the street from the middle of nowhere entrusted with only hope of restoring Optimus Prime's memories. Even now, after doing just that, I felt a little overwhelmed. I won't say I'm the most humble person around, I guess I can be a bit egotistical in the right situation, but when Optimus gave me that key, I only felt like I didn't deserve it.

I mean, what had I done to deserve it? I accidently decided to start drooling over what I thought was a normal motorcycle and wound up roped into an alien war because I wouldn't be safe otherwise. Hardly sounds like the material for an 'honorary Prime' as Ratchet had called me. But now, two weeks after that event, I was starting to wonder if I really deserved the reward, or if one of the bots could've done better.

I mean, I'm no slouch when the occasion demands it, but I'm only sixteen. The Autobots are thousands of years old. Kind of hard to compare with that.

I sighed and looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. It was about seven thirty when I left work, meaning it was going to get very dark very soon. Good thing my house was only a five minute walk away.

Suddenly though, I saw a streak of light shoot across the sky and I smiled faintly, "Cool, a shooting star." didn't see many of those in Jasper, at least not lately. I guess when you find out aliens are real and visit their home world, the night sky loses some of its wonder.

And apparently the night sky took that personally, because the shooting star suddenly pulled a ninety degree angle and started shooting towards me!

"What the!?" the streak of light quickly expanded into a raging ball of fire streaking straight towards me. I yelped and turned in the opposite direction, running back towards town. I had no intention of being meteor chow!

I felt the meteor shoot over my head and go streaking by. It was so close to the ground that the air shimmered from the heat. And then it crashed next to the street, causing dirt and rock to explode. Smoke filled the area, and I skid to a stop not too far from the crater, my eyes wide with shock.

After all, a meteor had just crashed in front of me and almost flattened me into a Jack shaped pancake. So I was more than a little bit shaken and shocked. Which might explain why I was stupid enough to walk _towards _the smoking crater instead of high tailing it as far away from the crater as quickly as possible.

But hey, everyone has their moments you know, and this was one of mine. I reached the edge of the crater, waving my hand back and forth to clear the smoke away. I peered down into the crater past the smoke and saw what had nearly reduced me to a puddle on the side of the road. A large segmented sphere rested in the center of the crater, steam rising from it's still smoking form.

I frowned in confusion when I felt the ground give way beneath me, "Hey, wai-ah!" I slid down the side and fell face first into the crater. I rolled to a stop in front of the sphere, hissed. Steam slipped out from the interlocking panels that made up its form.

"Ugh…" I groan and lifted my head up in time to see the sphere slowly slide open. Raising a brow, I slowly got to my feet, pulling my sleeves back and brushing the dirt off my elbows while peering into the sphere.

And I saw the last thing I'd have expected to see in that alien sphere, or satellite, or whatever it was. A sort of watch rested in the center of the sphere, but not like any watch I'd ever seen. It looked much thicker than a normal watch, with a dial resting in the center of it. There were no hands or numbers though, only an angular green hourglass resting in the center. It looked to be made of some sort of blackish grey cloth, with two green buttons on either side of the dial. A few white pipes extended from the dial around the rest of the device. And a faint glow emanated from the dial, bathing the entire crater in a really trippy green color.

"What's watch doing in a satellite?" I asked absent-mindedly. The less intelligent part of my mind suddenly urged me to pick up the watch and examine it.

Seems I was having an off night, because I did just that. I reached out to grab the watch, when it suddenly lunged at me! Yes, that's right, the _watch _lunged at me. It opened up and flew towards my wrist, wrapping around it and tightening its hold on me.

"AH!" I screamed, not just in surprise but pain. An intense burning sensation engulfed my wrist as the watch seemed to tighten its hold on me. I could practically see steam rising from my skin!

I frantically shook my hand, trying to get the device off of it, all the while yelling and screaming in a panic. I'll say it again, this was not my finest moment in the slightest. But I couldn't help myself, it hurt! All I could focus on was the pain in my left wrist while the watch continued to tighten itself.

I grabbed at the device and pulled, trying to get it off before it hurt something. But then it suddenly stopped. The burning and tightening just…stopped. No trailing off or continued pain. It just stopped dead in its tracks. It took me a moment to realize this before I released the watch and let loose a sigh of relief.

Relief that didn't last too long as I realized a new problem. I looked at the watch now firmly attached to my arm and was thankful that the sleeve of my undershirt had been pulled up. It probably would've been worse if it pinned my shirt to my arm, so I was lucky in that regard. In all other regards though…

"What is this thing?" I muttered to myself, running a finger over the watch. It's edge was smooth like metal, but it looked like cloth or plastic of some kind. I frowned and grabbed the device and tugged.

It didn't budge, so I tried again. Once more, it was stuck. I scowled and grabbed the watch again and put one of my feet against it and pushed. The result was not removing the watch, but me hopping around in the crater like an idiot for a good two and a half minutes. I tripped over the container the watch had been in and fell on my rear.

I cursed and looked at the Watch. It was almost like it was mocking me with its lack of doing…anything. And I do not like being mocked, especially by an inanimate object. Especially ones that don't respect personal space!

"I don't know what this thing is…" I muttered with a scowl, "But it's coming off."

Maybe I couldn't pull it off, but I had an entire garage full of tools back at the house that I could use to cut the thing off. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my clothes and spared one more glance at the watch. A faint urge to examine the buttons passed over me, but I waved it off. I didn't want to start pressing random buttons yet, otherwise I might cause it to…explode or something.

So instead, I climbed up the crater and looked at the suburbs where my home was located. Apparently no one noticed the giant meteor that impacted less than a mile away, but in Jasper the people are pretty oblivious. No one seemed to notice the bot smack down that happened between Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and the two cons Breakdown and Knockout, so maybe it wasn't that far a stretch they wouldn't notice something as subtle as an asteroid impact.

"Makes as much sense as anything else in my life." I muttered, and began walking off towards my home.

_Darby Residence…_

I let out an annoyed huff and tossed the now broken hacksaw back on the table. The watch was still firmly attached to my wrist without a scratch on its surface. It just sat on my wrist, staring at me…mocking me.

The walk back home had been surprisingly uneventful, letting me jog home in a good five minutes. My shirt sleeve easily concealed the watch from view and when I got home I headed straight for the garage. Where I had spent the next two and a half hours trying to get this damn thing off of me!

I tried screwdrivers, hacksaws, normal saws, and even a fragging chisel! Nothing seemed to work, and some of the more powerful tools broke trying to pierce the watch. The electric drill had broken two drill heads trying to break through the thing, but nothing worked! I was really starting to hate this thing.

"What does it take to get you off of me!?" I demanded. I received no answer from the watch, but I did get an answer from my stomach, which growled at me hungrily.

My hand fell to my gut and I realized the second most important thing on my agenda now. Getting some food in my system. I'd spent a good chunk of my night trying to get the watch off my wrist. but it obviously wasn't coming off and going anywhere soon. So I figured I could spare some time to get a quick dinner.

I rubbed my face and walked inside, turning on the kitchen light as I did. My house isn't really anything special, just a two bedroom two bath house with a small guest room at the rear of the house right next to the laundry room. My mom's was the first room in the hall and my room was on the opposite side a few feet further down. The master bath was directly across from my room, with the smaller bath only accessible through my mom's room.

The kitchen and living room have no wall separating them, you can just walk from one to the other with no issue. And the walls are all a calm beige color that I slowly grew to like after mom had repainted the house after dad passed away. Police accident, long story.

I immediately headed for the fridge and popped it open. There wasn't a lot in there worth eating considering my mom's obsession with Tofu and my inability to cook. Normally I eat at the K.O. Burger, but lately their burgers were not agreeing with my stomach. So I was starting to learn with…mixed results.

I could make spaghetti at least, and what do ya know! There was some left over's in the fridge! I grabbed the bin and put it in the microwave for about a minute and set it off. I then leaned against the counter and looked at the watch on my wrist.

"What am I going to do about you?" I asked. If Mom saw the watch, she'd ask questions and then likely freak out when I explained where I found it. Imagining her freaking out and telling the others I made what I thought was the best choice at the moment.

The watch could be kept a secret for now, at least until I figured out why it was attached to me. I silently decided if I hadn't figured out how to get it off me or what it did by the end of the week, I'd tell the others. After all, I got myself into this situation, at the very least I could try and get myself out of it on my own.

I looked at the two buttons on either side of the dial and quirked my lips, "I wonder what they do…" I mused and reached for them…

And then the phone rang, nearly making me jump. I shook off the slight heart attack the shrill ring gave me and plucked the wireless phone off the counter and answered it, "This is Jack." I droned.

_"Jack honey, it's your Mom." _she deadpanned.

I blinked, "Oh, hi Mom." I subconsciously covered the watch with my sleeve while the microwave dinged done.

My Mom giggled over the phone. For reasons I'll never understand, mom's seem to love messing with their kids. Or mine did anyway, though that may have been payback for lying about the bots.

She finally finished and cleared her throat, _"I was just checking on you to make sure you were doing alright Jack." _she explained.

I looked at my wrist, "I'm fine mom." I lied. It made sense at the time!

My gaze fell back on the microwave, "Arcee dropped me off at home and went to base for a mission," I added, "So it's been a dull night."

_"I can imagine." _she admitted with a tone I didn't recognize but decided not to comment on.

She changed the subject, _"I'm working late again Jack. I'll be home at about midnight, and I'm heading into work late tomorrow. Just thought I'd give you a heads up."_

A small sigh escaped my lips. My Mom works as a nurse you see, and constantly has to work overtime to make ends meet. Me working at the K.O Burger helped for sure, but the budget's always been tight around the house ever since Dad passed away. But we made do with it, even if mom did wind up overworked, which was why I kept the watch a secret at the time. No need to add to her stress or anything.

"I understand mom." I admitted, "I'll see you tomorrow at base then?" if she was working late, that meant she'd sleep through my departure to school tomorrow.

_"Yeah, see you there tomorrow sweetie." _there was a voice talking to her for a moment and she returned her attention to me, _"I've got to go Jack, I'll talk to you more later. Love you."_

"Love you too mom." I replied with the faintest of smiles. And with that, she hung up.

I placed the phone back on its charger and looked at the microwave. During the talk I'd sort of shoved my thoughts of the watch aside for the moment. I was tired and hungry, and after spending two and a half hours trying to get the damn thing off, I guess I just didn't want to think about it anymore.

I ate what was left of the leftovers and afterwards finished my homework. From there I showered and packed everything up for school. I spared one look at the watch and decided to ignore it for the night. I could mess with it at school or afterwards.

And in hindsight, that was a very bad idea. A very, very, bad idea…

_Jasper High…_

The high school I go to, Jasper High (Yeah, real creative I know.) is an interesting set up all things considered. It's a three story high old brick building with the entire school divided by the grade level. Senior's get the first floor, Juniors get the second floor, and Freshman and Sophomores share the third floor. Being a Junior, this means I share the second floor with all the other Juniors.

I was looking forward to Senior year for that reason, so I wouldn't have to climb the stairs every time I started up to class. But the normal issues I had with school where at the back of my mind at the moment.

Because the watch was my main focus. I had my arms crossed as I walked along the crowded halls. Getting to school had been easy, Arcee had driven me of course. Apparently they'd had a successful raid and increased their Energon stocks. Great news for the bots really. But I decided to stay hush hush on the watch.

I guess since I lied to my mother about it, lying to the Autobots about it was fine too. And it's not like I wasn't going to tell them. I just needed to figure the stupid thing out first, which I had no luck with either.

First period I'd spent fiddling with it for a while with no luck. I was on my way to second period now, still wondering what to do about the watch. I almost considered asking my friend Miko about it, but she was… difficult to work with, even if she was a lot more creative than I was. Not exactly logical or filled with common sense, just very creative.

In other words, she was over-hyper most of the time and I had no classes with her. She was a Sophomore after all, and I was a Junior. The only time I saw her was at lunch and when school ended. So at the moment I was on my own.

And I wasn't doing great on my own, because I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't watch where I was going and bumped into one of the other kids walking through the hall. A big guy with a wild mess of black hair and a black T-shirt. He was also a good head higher than I was.

"Watch it." he ordered, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Sorry, sorry…" I apologized, when I felt something odd with the watch. The dial felt like it had been raised a few inches!

Without another word, I ran off down the hall. I ignored the larger kids death threats that called after me and dove into the nearest bathroom. No one ever goes into a school bathroom for one reason and one reason only. There's always one jerk that makes a giant mess in the toilets that tends to scare everyone else off, myself included.

But they would act as a good hiding spot for now. After checking to make sure the stalls were unoccupied (And trying not to gag all the while), I slid my sleeve back and felt my eyes go wide. The watche's dial had changed!

It had risen a good two inches from the base and the hourglass had shifted into a diamond shape that dominated the dial. And in the center of it was a silhouette of some sort of flaming figure. I couldn't make it out exactly, but I didn't think it was a big deal.

"I can't walk around with the dial jutting out like that though." I muttered. And in hindsight, this was once more a stupid move on my part.

I pressed the dial back down and got an instant reaction from the watch. There was a bright flash of light and an intense burning sensation crawled up my arm. I watched in horror as rock spewed from the watch and traveled up my arm towards my face way too fast. I yelled in shock as I felt the rock cover my entire body, even my face.

The watch vanished into my wrist and there was a loud hissing sound. Everything went dark for a moment, before I heard something like a match being lit and I could see again. But nothing was the same as before. I felt taller than before, a good foot and a half taller. My body felt heavier and my hands and feet didn't feel like normal.

I looked at them and gaped, "What the!?" my normally fleshy hands where now on fire! No, sorry, not on fire. Made of fire! They were big, much bigger than my hands, and they looked like someone had sculpted them out of lava, with my wrists and arms being made out of some sort of volcanic rock. Fire cut through the rock in a crisscross pattern.

Horror filled my being and I dreaded looking down at myself. But curiosity one out over dread and I looked down. And like my arms, my body also looked like it was made of molten rock. With the level of horror in my body rising quickly, I ran for the nearest mirror to hopefully disprove my fears.

I put my large shaky hands on the sink and stared at the mirror, ignoring the sizzling sound that followed it. And staring back at it was a face made of flaming rock, no eyes and no visible head. Only a stony face wreathed in flames.

And seeing this, seeing that I was now some sort of…fire rock monster, I did the only logical thing that could come to my mind at the moment, the only sane reaction I could possibly have to something like this.

I screamed. Very, _very _loudly.

**A/N: I cannot tell you guys how much fun this story is going to be for me. Why? Because I am a bigger fan of Ben 10 then I am Transformers *Gasp!* That's right, I like it even more then Transformers. Please don't kill me. Now with that out of the way, I want to make one thing clear. I am not rewriting Ultimate 10's 'Omniformer' story. I simply asked him if I could use the concept, and he gave me the blessing for this story. I intend on doing things very different from his, and for a while Jack will only have the original ten aliens under his control. That will change after the first climax of course, but that's a ways away.**

**But with that all said, what did you guys think of the first chapter of Ten Kinds of Trouble? Was it a good start, too expository, not expository enough, did you not like the First person PoV? Let me know in the reviews so I can seek to correct those mistakes. And remember to just review in general, as those reviews keep me going, and if you have questions, PM me with me. I don't bite, much.**

**Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Fire Starter

**A/N: After reviewing the…reviews, I've decided that this story will be a mix of First Person and Third Person perspective. Most of the time it will be first person, unless I need to focus on villains or certain other characters. That is all, now enjoy the story.**

_Jasper High…_

"AAAAGH!" I screamed and stumbled away from the mirror, sparks flying with every step I took on the tile floor.

Not that I was particularly focused on that. The fact that I had somehow turned into a giant flaming rock monster had pretty much dominated my mind. I was freaking out, panicking right up until I stumbled backwards into a bathroom stall and knocked my head against the door with an audible thud.

Stars flashed through my vision and it worked about as well as if someone had slapped me. I cradled my skull for a moment, rubbing my big flaming head before cracking an eye open and looking at myself again. I was still a fire monster, and it didn't seem like that was going to change anytime soon.

I let out a resigned sigh and released my skull, "…Okay…" I let out a shaky breath and looked at my hands again. They were also still made of fire. The weird thing was though, I wasn't putting off any smoke, which meant I wasn't _on _fire, I was generating it. Which was probably why I wasn't in any pain.

Either way though, that didn't answer the obvious question, "How did this happen?" I wondered aloud.

Hearing my voice, my hands flew to my throat and I choked. I didn't sound like me anymore either. My voice was deeper and was a bit more raspy than I was used to. I guess the best explanation would be it sounded like… burning. It sounded like the burning of wood and paper if it could speak.

I rubbed my throat and frowned, "This is…too weird…"

And I still didn't have an answer to my question. I had spontaneously combusted and turned into a walking fire hazard. The only thing I could connect to my sudden transformation was the… Was the watch!

"No way," I looked at my wrist and saw there was no sign of the watch. I looked myself over, hearing the flames that engulfed my head 'swooshing' about while I did. I saw no sign of the watch anywhere. But I did see a familiar symbol on my chest.

Dead center in my chest was a small white and silver dial with that familiar hourglass shape in the center of it. Which confirmed exactly what I had realized already.

"The watch turned me into this!?" I yelped. In any other circumstance I'd probably say that wasn't true. But this watch had come from space and latched itself onto my wrist and was pretty much indestructible, so the fact that it turned me into fire-guy wasn't exactly breaking my suspension of disbelief.

I scratched my chin thoughtfully and began pacing. Now that I wasn't freaking out, I was trying to figure out…well, just figure things out. The situation, why I had been turned into a fire-monster by the watch, etc.

I paused and looked at myself in the mirror. That stony face engulfed in face looked back at me and I smirked, "Well… I do look pretty cool." I admitted, giving myself the once over. The stony skin that made up my body were glowing red hot. And with the fire cutting into it, it looked like I was decked out in a cool suit of futuristic armor, large collar around my head and everything.

But that had also freaked me out a lot moments ago, and if it freaked me out, there was no telling how anyone else would react. I slapped my head, "Oh scrap!" I cursed.

If _I _had freaked out when I changed into this fire thing, how was the school going to react!? After all, a seven foot tall rock monster that happened to be on fire emerging from the guys bathroom would probably turn a few heads, if it didn't make everyone scream in terror when they saw me.

I groaned and leaned against the bathroom stall. I ignored the sizzling sound that emanated from it, "Oh great. How am I going to fix this?"

There was no telling if I could actually revert to my human form, or if I was going to be stuck as fire-guy forever. I hadn't the slightest idea if that would work or not. I was sixteen after all, not a genetics scientist. Not that it would've helped anyway. I don't think a geneticist would be able to explain how a giant monster made of rock and fire could exist.

A sudden idea occurred to me, and I perked up, "The bots!" if _anyone _could figure out what was wrong with me, it would be then.

I let out a laugh and reached for my phone so I could call for a bridge… and then remembered I had no pockets. I had no clothes in general actually, I was just rock and fire. Once more, I cursed my luck. Without my phone, I had no way of contacting the bots and getting a bridge to base.

"Come on Darby," I growled and grabbed at my head, "Think!" I wracked my brain for several seconds trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation.

The answer came fairly quickly actually, "Ah ha!" I cheered, "The pay phones!"

Jasper High is fairly outdated in some respects, and that included the pay phones. There were four of them at the back of the school and there was always spare change around them. The only thing in my way was getting to them. Which meant I had to go through the second floor and the first floor of the school during snack break…

I sighed and knocked my head against the wall, "It couldn't be easy, could it?"

Life liked picking on me from time to time, and it seemed that it was doing so yet again. I spared a look at the bathroom door. It sounded like the crowds outside where finally starting to dissipate. Snack break had to be coming to an end, and when it did, I'd make a run for it towards the back of the school.

I straightened up and sighed, before walking over to the door to listen… when the handle started turning! I went wide eyed with fear and looked around hurriedly as the door clicked and slowly began to open. I looked at the nearest stall and ran for it, opening and shutting the door as quickly as I could and locking it. The lock melted in my hands and I silently cursed before I heard the door creak open and heard two sets of feet enter.

"…So, ready for the big game?" one of the voices asked. I recognized it as one of the football players. Great, jocks.

"Yeah, finally. Get to focus on the real fun." I rolled my eyes and watched their feet. Both headed for the stalls as they talked about sport related scrap that I didn't really care about all that much.

It seemed like they wouldn't notice me until one of them suddenly sniffed at the air, "Hey…is something burning?"

_'Scrap!' _

The other sniffed too, "Um…kinda. Not sure. Think we should tell someone about it?"

If I were a human still, I'd have been sweating bullets at that point. If they told someone, another person would be sent to investigate and then I'd be busted… oh this was not going to be good, I could tell. The smell of burning plastic suddenly entered my nose and I looked around and realized what it was. I had been putting my hand against the stall wall. Not my smartest move.

I quickly retracted it as one of the jocks just chuckled, "Nah, probably nothing. Come on, let's go."

The sound of footsteps followed and the door shut behind them. When I was sure they were gone, I let loose a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. That was one crisis avoided, now I just had to get out of there. I pushed against the door, but it didn't budge!

"Huh?" I blinked and looked at the melted lock. Whoops.

I scowled and pushed against the door. Smoke trailed off from where my fingers pressed against it, but that was some tough plastic. It refused to melt or burn despite my efforts. I stepped back and glared at the door.

"Stupid piece of plastic." I growled, a bit angry. Mostly just due to how fast south my day had turned.

I kicked the door but it didn't budge, "Oh come on!" I jabbed an angry finger at the door, "Open you piece of-!"

A ball of fire formed at the edge of my index finger and flew straight into the door, blowing it clean off its hinges. It went flying across the room and slammed into the bathroom sinks. I stood there, jaw hanging in shock. My hand slowly closed into a fist and I promptly ran for the bathroom exit. There was no way I wanted to be associated with the bathroom door exploding. I wasn't even sure how I had done that!

At the door, I paused and pressed my face as close to it as I dare. I could hear no sounds of the busy hallways that normally made up snack break. In fact, at that moment I heard the shrill ring of the school alarm. Snack break was over, kids would be heading back to class which meant I had an open opportunity to get out of there.

Very carefully, I grabbed the door handle with my index finger and thumb. The steel handle sizzled but didn't start melting immediately. I let out a relieved sigh and creaked the door open. No sign of any students near as I could tell. I was in the clear! The door opened the rest of the way and I slowly stepped out into the hall, leaving a faint scorch mark on the linoleum tiles.

"So far so good…" I murmured, looking towards the far end of the hall, where it looked all clear. I was going to make it out no problem! Instant relief flooded my system and I started towards the end of the hall.

Any relief I felt though, was promptly halted by the sound of books hitting the floor. I froze mid step. My head slowly creaked around until I found the source of the books. My heart, or whatever I had in my chest now, froze. Sierra and her friend (Who's name escapes me) were standing in front of the ladies restroom. And the former had dropped her books on the ground and her jaw was hanging.

I blinked once in surprise and at my horrible, horrible bad luck. The two girls just kept staring at me, like I was some sort of monster… Which I kind of was at that point. They looked at themselves soundlessly, blinked and then looked back at me.

I let out a nervous chuckle, "Hehehe…Um…hi?"

The two immediately started to back away, fear showing in their eyes, "No, no, no! Wait!" I tried stopping them before things got crazy. But a seven foot tall man made out of fire isn't exactly great for calming people down.

It especially didn't help when I started waving my hands around and sent a ball of fire shooting down the hall. The two girls screamed and ducked under it. Doors to classes started opening, right as the fire ball hit the opposite end of the hall and exploded. The entire wall exploded into flames. Students and teachers both started looking out of their classrooms at me.

I let out a nervous laugh at their stairs, "Hehe…Would you believe that was an accident?" I asked nervously. I knew no one would, it looked like I had thrown a ball of fire at two defenseless girls. Smooth Darby, smooth.

My shoulders sagged at the looks I got, "Didn't think so…could this day get any worse?"

The fire alarm suddenly went off and the sprinkler system engaged. Students finally started screaming and shrieking in panic while the floor was soaked in water. The flames at the end of the hall were quickly extinguished. My own flames apparently were burning too hot for the water to put out. Steam just rose from my form instead.

"Great." I grumbled, and then took off running towards the end of the hall.

I saw a few of the sophomores and freshman starting to come down the stairs to see what was going on. Many of them gaped at me, but I recognized one in the batch. A ponytail wearing Japanese exchange student who seemed to be hyped up on everything. Miko gaped when she saw me reach the stairs.

"Holy scrap that is cool!" she yelled.

I ignored her and the looks, only responding with a, "Sorry kids, gotta go!" and started sprinting down the stairs, taking them two at a time. I skidded around the corner and jumped over the remaining stairs. I hit with a thud and rolled forward in my usually 'graceful' manner, and sprinted towards the door.

The two green steel doors were standing there waiting for me. A few seniors were staring at me as I ran by. A small group where standing in front of the doors themselves, and clearly hadn't expected to see a giant burning man running towards them while the sprinklers flooded the entire school.

"Out of the way!" I ordered, gesturing for them to move as I ran, "Burning man coming through!"

Rather smartly, the seniors parted as I hit the front doors and slammed the open. I left a neat little imprint on the door from where my fiery hands had shoved them open, but I paid it no mind. I ran out into the sunlight and covered my eyes. Slowly I stopped at the edge of the stair's as my eye's adjusted.

And promptly tripled in size. See, Jasper is a small town. And being a small town means there's normally very few emergency's going on. This is normally a good thing, it allows for rapid responses to the few emergency's we do suffer from. But at that point in time, I was really wishing that we had a lazy emergency response force.

Because I saw two fire trucks and a handful of police cruisers parked in the parking lot. And they were all staring at me as equally wide eyed as I was at them. But these weren't high schoolers, who were just confused. These were emergency response units, and they adapted pretty quick. Which was really not good for me.

The police immediately took cover and pointed their weapons at me. Also not good for me! The firemen continued their work, getting their hoses hooked up to a nearby fire hydrant. I decided I didn't want to find out what would happen if my flames were completely put out.

"Um…" I looked at the assembly of law enforcement officers with worry. No way they'd believe I started that fire unintentionally. I was literally made of the stuff!

So, I made a rather regretful decision in hindsight, "Bye!" I yelled, and hopped off the side of the stairs. My feet hit the grass, which immediately lit on fire from the touch. I didn't pay it any attention though, and sprinted away. The cops opened fire on me, but the rounds either missed or seemed to have no effect on me. I'm not really sure.

I ran into the street and immediately started home. I was scared, confused, and the cops were shooting at me. Home seemed like the best place to be right now, and I didn't really think that there was much else that could happen that would make my day any worse than it already was.

…Yeah, the universe really likes to screw with me like that.

_Earth Orbit, 3rd Person POV…_

While Jack dealt with the issue of being turned into a literal burning man, high above Earth something far more sinister was brewing. The remains of that small blue alien vessel now drifted aimlessly in space, it's hull torn apart from the various circular drones that scurried over its hull. Plating and internal components had been torn open, all in a vain search for the device.

The ship that had chased it down floated nearby, it's bridge still a damaged wreck. Even more drones scurried over its surface, repairing the damage done to it by their prey. They quickly and effortlessly removed and replaced damaged plating in record time. Within a day, the large vessel would be at one hundred percent once more.

The same could not be said of the ship's captain. Within the bridge itself, the damage from the shot that had blown open the ship was temporarily repaired with a few well placed pieces of plating. Many of the crew wandered about repairing consoles, but the rest were all focused at the center of the bridge.

Because at the center, was the captain. Or what was left of him. A large cylinder had replaced his command chair, filled with a sickening yellow fluid that seethed and bubbled. And his mangled remains floated in the center of it, with various tubes attached to what was left of his body. His left arm was nothing but a shattered stump, the bone cracked and blackened. Everything from the waist down was nothing but a few bits of flesh and bone.

His innards floated around with the rest of his form, and a mask was placed over his face to assist with breathing. Only his right arm remained, and it was torn and charred. It was as useless as the rest of his body was. And yet, not only was he still alive, he was still conscious. And very, _very _angry.

"What do you mean it's not there!?" He half gasped half roared, "This battle nearly cost me my life…! And you say the Omnitrix is no longer on board the transport!?"

The small officer that stood before him did not cower. Instead, he spoke in that same monotone, "Sensor's indicate a probe was jettisoned from the ship, just before boarding. It landed on the planet below."

The Captain seethed angrily, the liquid around him boiling with his rage. He turned his head to a large figure in the shadows, "…Go…" he gasped, "Bring it to me!"

The shadowed figure gave a bow and headed off. Outside of the vessel, two small shapes were jettisoned from its drone bay. A third followed after at a much slower rate. The first two hit the atmosphere and burned through it in seconds. They were forward scouts, the ones to find what they were looking for, their target.

And where was their target? Jasper, Nevada of course. Where else? Seems that Jack's luck wasn't going to be getting any better anytime soon…

_Jasper, Nevada. Jack's POV…_

I ducked into a nearby alley right as a police cruiser passed by, barely spotting me. For the past few minutes I'd been running from the cops the best I could. It was surprisingly easy, given how I looked now, and the fact that I left flaming footprints wherever I went. I'd just lost the last of them and had reached the outskirts of the town.

"That was too close…" I sighed, and peaked out from the alleyway. I could see the main road that cut through Jasper leading out into the desert that was between my house and the rest of the town. I was on the other side of the area though, as there were two roads that lead into them. One at the commercial district, and one that lead to the school districts.

I spared a glance to make sure there were no cars coming, before running out from my hiding spot and into the desert. It must have been a weird spectacle to see me running across the desert, that is, if there was anyone around to see me. I was lucky in that regard, there was no one around to see me it seemed.

Any of the cops that were chasing me where still around the school, and my fellow students where probably trying to dry off now after getting soaked by the sprinklers. Which meant I was in the clear, and just had to make it to my house where I could call the bots and figure out what was going on.

"Nearly there Darby…" I muttered to myself as I jogged.

Just a few more minutes and…

A shadow fell over me and I slowly came to a halt, "What the…?" it was circular shaped, and I didn't hear anything at first. So police chopper was immediately crossed off. But the shape was getting smaller and smaller, all while remaining centered on me. It then split into two circular shadows instead of two.

I turned my fiery head around and gaped, "What the!?" I repeated, as two circular objects came screaming towards me. I could hear a distinct whining from them, and I saw that they were an odd rusty orange color.

Then, their tops and bottoms opened up to reveal red…eyes, scanners? I'm not sure. All I knew was that they were large and bulbous and didn't look friendly. The two UFO's or drones, I wasn't really sure what to call them at the time, stopped on either side of me. Multiple silver limbs sprouted from their chassis and pointed at me.

I took a hesitant step back, "Hey, what's…going on?" I asked, hoping that this wasn't going where I had a feeling it was going.

The drones let loose a few beeps and clicks, before pointing one of their limbs at me. A large cylinder was attached to the end, and a low hum could be heard coming-

"Holy scrap!" I cursed and ducked down, barely dodging the scarlet beams that would've taken my head off if I'd remained standing. Instead though, they lanced off into the distance without causing any real damage.

"What is your problem!?" I demanded, and sprang back to my feet.

The drone beeped at me and fired at my feet. I yelped and jumped backwards before scowling angrily, "Oh, so it's going to be like that huh?"

I felt anger well up in my chest and I cupped my right hand. A ball of fire quickly formed there and I threw it up at the drone. The fire splashed against its chassis, making its paint bubble and left it scorched, but that was it.

Its buddy didn't take very kindly to that and tried blasting me. I rolled to the side and flung a fire ball at the little head on top of its circular body. The fire melted the sensors there and it began flying around at random, apparently blinded. I ran forward at the thing, and jumped up onto it, slamming into it with a heavy thud.

My fiery hands easily dug into the already superheated metal, and I latched on. What followed was the fastest ride from hell I've ever been on. The drone rose and fell at random, even spinning upside down a few times. I held on even then, though I was starting to feel a little queasy after a minute of this.

"Okay…" I groaned, "Enough of this…"

I slammed my hand into the open space between the drones 'head' and it's body and unleashed a torrent of fire. It flooded the drone and apparently fried whatever kept the thing going. It let loose a few belches of smoke and promptly fell from the sky. With me still on it. I yelled in surprise and let out a pained yell when I hit the ground.

The drone itself exploded into fire when it hit, while I just lay there for a moment. After a second or two of just…dealing with the dull pain in my back, I slowly got to my feet and shook my head. I looked at the drone.

"Well, that's one down. Where'd his buddy go?" I wondered.

A sharp pain shot through my back and I was knocked flat on my face. The drone hovered over me victoriously and I groaned, "…That answers that…" I muttered.

The drone pointed it's laser… thing, at me as I started pushing myself back up. I spared it a glare over my shoulder and narrowed my eyes, "So, that's how you want to play it tough guy?"

I'll admit, I was in a bit of a pissy mood by that point. The watch had started it, and then I had turned into this weird monster, the police where hunting me down, I nearly set the school on fire, and now I was being attacked for no reason! So I was angry at a lot of things right now, and there just so happened to be a non-living being floating over me!

My hands and the fire engulfing my head exploded out, knocking the drone away. I got to my feet with fire burning in my hands, "Alright, you overblown I-pod. You wanna rumble?"

I clapped my hands together and formed a huge fireball between them, bigger than anything I had yet form, "Then let's rumble!"

The ball went flying and collided with the drone, reducing its silvery limbs to liquid metal. I ran forward towards it and leaped up, forming another fiery ball in my hand. Before I punched the drone though, I crushed the fireball in hand and punched the drone as hard as I possibly could. The result was a fiery explosion that engulfed both the drone and me. But see, I was a being made of fire, so all that happened was that I was shoved back and landed on my rear with a thud.

The drone though, fell to the ground in many itty bitty pieces. I groaned and looked at the remains of the drone. I let out a bitter laugh, "Teach you to try and mess with me…"

I groaned as I pulled myself to my feet, stumbling around for a moment before I managed to steady myself and look around. The entire area was a battlefield, with several small fires littering the area, and various pieces of drone scattered everywhere. The street didn't exactly look like a solid anymore either.

"Whoops…" I winced. Seems I'd gotten a bit carried away, but I had to admit… a small part of me enjoyed that little battled. It was a _lot _of fun using my new powers to kick butt and take names.

I couldn't exactly revel in my victory though. Sirens sounded in the distance, and I looked to see familiar red and blue lights in the distance. That was my cue to leave before the cops decided to arrest me. I took off down the road, leaving the remains of my battle behind. I figured I was in the clear for now. I had no idea what was still coming for me…

_Darby Residence…_

After another few minutes of walking, I finally reached my backyard. There'd been a lot of sneaking around, hiding behind cars and trees, and all that fun stuff. No one seemed to noticed the giant seven foot tall guy on fire running around though, so I figured I was in the clear. I hopped the fence of our backyard with ease and waltzed right up to the back door

I'd apologize to Mom for frying the lawn later. When I reached the back door, I gently opened it and peaked inside, "Hello?" I whispered.

Nothing. Good.

Thinking the coast was clear, I let myself in and gently closed the door behind me. The back door was located between the guest room and the laundry room, at the far end of the hall. It was a straight shot into the living room/kitchen, so I didn't have much to worry about.

I just walked on forward to the kitchen, letting out a relieved sigh. The walk home had been a pain and more than a bit dangerous. But I was only a step away from finding the phone and calling the bots.

In hindsight, I should have realized it wasn't going to be that easy. I only realized that though, _after _I got clothes lined by a fire extinguisher. A hard 'clang' sounded through the house, and stars flashed across my vision. I fell flat on my back with a pained yell, and grabbed at my face while yelling.

I heard a scream and once the pain subsided, I peeked through my hands to see the end of a fire extinguisher pointed at me. And Mom was the one holding it. She had a terrified but determined look on her face, and it took me a moment to realize why. Like everyone else, Mom knew nothing about the watch or my change…

And it wasn't noon yet, so she had still been at home. Which I had just technically broken into and likely scared the crap out of her. Whoops. Her hands were shaking, but apparently she realized a fire extinguisher would be the best weapon to use against me. Funny thing is, she was right.

I blinked a few times and looked up at her face, "What the hell are you?" she demanded. I could barely hear the terror in her throat and I felt a bit of guilt at scaring her so bad.

Ever since my dad passed away six years ago, I was all Mom had left. She had sacrificed a lot for me and I like to think we'd formed a pretty strong bond with each other. Lying to her about the bots had been hard. Lying about the watch hadn't been as hard, but that was over the phone. Seeing her in person for the first time since then, I felt bad. Really bad for lying.

"Well, answer me!?" she demanded.

I looked from her fire extinguisher, to her, then to the extinguisher and back again. I coughed nervously, "Um…Mom…it's me…Jack…"

The response to that was a face full of extinguisher foam. Which, surprisingly, extinguished the flames on my head and made me start hacking. I got a good mouthful of the stuff, and let me tell you, it does not taste good. When I cleared my throat, my head promptly reignited.

"If that's some sort of sick joke, it's not funny!" Mom growled. She was no longer scared, but angry. Suddenly I felt a little scared.

She shoved the extinguisher closer to my face. It's edge was starting to get a bit runny from the heat, but I don't think she cared, "Now, I'll ask again. What the hell are you!?"

I looked at Mom and took a deep breath, "It really is me, Mom. It's Jack."

Her finger tightened on the trigger and I raised my hands defensively, "Wait, wait! I can prove it!"

I gulped and gently pushed the cone away from my face, "I can prove it…" I repeated again in a gentler tone.

Mom seemed unconvinced, but gave me the benefit of the doubt, "Alright, prove it. Otherwise I'm calling the fire department."

With a gentle nod, I took in a breath, "When I first told you about the Autobots, you thought they were a science fiction club and grounded me for a week."

The fire extinguisher fell from her hands (and onto my chest) and Mom's eyes went wide, "…Jack!?"

I let out a pained cough and pushed the extinguisher off my chest, "Yep…that's me…" I croaked.

She blinked in realization and covered her mouth in horror, "Oh god, Jack!" she immediately tried to help me up, but I stopped her by putting a hand out.

"Not a good idea mom…" I muttered, and slowly pushed myself up. I rubbed my head and groaned. Metal canister to the head did _not _feel good.

With a shake of my head though, I was up and standing again, albeit swaying from side to side. Mom looked at me worriedly, "Are you okay? I didn't mean to, I just heard the door and then I saw what you looked like and-"

I cut her off, "I'm fine mom. And it's not your fault." I assured her.

She let out a sigh of relief, "Okay, good… Now, can you explain why you're a seven foot tall walking camp fire!?"

I winced. Oh this was not going to be fun.

"Yeah…I think I can. Might take a minute or two…"

Mom crossed her arms, "I've got time."

"Of course you do…" I mumbled. We moved into the kitchen where Mom put out some wet rags so I wouldn't burn the tiles. After that I crossed my arms and explained what had happened after Arcee dropped me off.

How the meteor almost flattened me, the Watch attaching itself to my arm, how I couldn't break it off no matter how hard I tried, and even why I had lied to her. She accepted my reason, for the most part, but basically extended my 'grounding' from the whole 'world blowing up' incident to 30 again. I then explained what happened at school and how the watch somehow turned me into a giant fire guy.

After all that was done, Mom had her arms crossed and wore a thoughtful look on her face. I let out a sigh and let my shoulders droop, "Sorry for lying to you Mom. I just wanted to figure this out on my own, you know?"

She gave an understanding nod, "I understand Jack. I just wish you hadn't for once." she let out a sigh, "Not much I can do about it though, is there?"

I smile faintly, "I…guess not."

"Still…" she tapped her chin and looked me over, "How long have you been like this?"

I shrugged, "I think like…ten, fifteen minutes. Twenty tops. Why?"

She shrugged in return, "Curiosity I guess, that's all. I just hope you won't be stuck like this forever…"

Now the idea of being trapped as a giant walking match head? That made me gulp, "Oh god I hope not…" I muttered.

Mom almost put a reassuring hand on me, before retracting it. I was putting off a lot of heat even on my own. No telling how hot I was to the touch. At that thought I let out a dejected sigh. Being stuck as a flaming…thing, was going to suck. My whole life would fall apart and I'd be labelled a freak for the rest of my life.

Didn't really feel fair though, being stuck like that. What had I done to deserve such a-

"What's that beeping?" Mom asked, interrupting my brooding.

I perked up, "Huh?"

Listening, I could suddenly hear what she meant. A high pitched beeping sound, kind of like an obnoxious ring tone or microwave alarm. And after a moment, I realized it was coming from me! I looked down at my chest and saw the dial flashing red and white.

"Um…" was all I got out. The beeping suddenly concluded with a giant flash of green light that blinded the both of us.

I let out an annoyed sigh, "Ugh, that's going to get annoying…" I grumbled. Immediately my eyes shot open and my hands went to my throat. At that moment I realized something.

"I'm me again!" I cheered, looking down at my smaller leaner human body.

Mom rubbed her eyes and then went slack jawed when she saw me, "Holy…you are!"

And then I was glomped in a big hug from her, knocking all the air out of me and turning me bright red. I love my mom and all, but sometimes she can be a bit too touchy feely for my tastes. Luckily she released me pretty quick, though she did remain holding my left arm, looking at the Watch on my wrist.

"This is what did it?" she asked with a slightly wary tone.

I looked at the Watch and nodded, "Yeah, this is the Watch…looks different though." before the hourglass had been green. Now it was red.

"Hmm…" Mom murmured, and tugged on the Watch. It didn't budge an inch, "It's on their tight." she admitted.

I sighed, "Preaching to the choir Mom. I spent two hours trying to get the thing off. Broke a few tools in the attempt."

Mom quirked her lips, "Weird… Any idea how it turned you into heatguy?"

Unfortunately, I didn't, "No, I bumped into someone at school and suddenly the dial had shot up."

Even after nearly half an hour I had no idea how the stupid thing worked. Mom let my arm go and crossed her arms, thinking while I examined the watch before. The other night I had been too afraid to really mess with it, but now that I had an idea of what it did, I started fiddling with it a little more. I found that even if it wasn't popped up, the dial could still be rotated, though no silhouettes showed up this time.

For a good minute I did this, before something weird happened. The dial lit up green again with a light chime. Mom looked over at me with a raised brow and I raised my hands defensively, "No idea, I was just messing with it and it suddenly turned green."

I showed her and she nodded, letting me start fiddle with it again. I decided to check out the buttons on either side. The one on the right didn't seem to do anything when I pressed it. When I pressed the one on the left though… The dial suddenly popped up with a small chime and I blinked in shock.

"Mom, I figured it out!" I said, a touch excitedly.

"Really, what'd you find out?" she asked.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I'll say that I was a bit giddy after figuring it out. The Watch mystified me, but knowing how it worked at all had gotten me a bit excited. I showed Mom what I had learned.

"I just press this little button here," I showed her said button, "And the dial pops up and lets you rotate it to choose your form."

I rotated the dial and saw several different blacked out forms appear on it. Mom gently grabbed my arm and lowered it, "If you're going to try it out Jack, do it in the garage okay? I don't want my carpet ruined anymore than it already is."

She pointed at the burn mark in the hall and I winched, "Yeah…good idea."

We migrated to the garage after that, and Mom moved backed her car up out of it. A moment later she closed the door and stood at the side entrance to the house. I stood in the center of the garage with my hand poised over the Watch's dial.

"Alright," she gave me the go ahead, "Give it a shot."

I nodded and looked at the choices. I rotated through the familiar fiery shadow, past a shadow with a fluid body with long arms, then one with _four _arms, and several others before settling on one that seemed angular with three large spikes jutting from its back. With my choice made, I slammed the dial down and a flash of green engulfed me.

Light green crystal immediately engulfed the Watch and my arm, covering my hand and traveling up my arm. I felt it cover my face and the rest of my body, while I felt something push its way through of my back. Again, everything went dark for a moment, before light poured back into my eyes and the transformation was finished.

"Whoa…" I heard Mom mutter.

I looked down at myself, "Whoa is right." I admitted, in a much deeper voice than the last form.

My entire body was made out of some kind of light green crystal. It had taken on an angular form and moved with an odd tinkling crunching sound. I had also grown several feet taller, even a little taller than the fire form. Two large spikes were jutting from my back, with two smaller ones directly below them. My head was even formed into a large spike that was a good foot long and formed a sort of natural helmet over my now noseless face. My eyes were also solid blue, no pupils or irises.

And to my relief, I had clothes this time, but a bit different. It was a sort of leotard that covered my legs, chest, and abdomen, but left my now large, bulky, and angular crystal arms out. There was a black stripe around my waist and my neck, with the legs being a very dark blue, almost black, and the torso being a light grey. A black stripe connected the one at my neck and waist, with the dial placed firmly where the belt buckle would be.

I opened and closed my crystalline hands, "Okay…" I looked at Mom, "You can't deny that this isn't a little cool."

Mom smiled, "It is cool Jack, but we need to-"

Whatever she was going to say, I'll never know. Because suddenly, the entire house shook. We both stumbled about for a moment, "Earthquake!?" Mom yelled.

I fell back into the wall, feeling the spikes on my back cut right through the wall like it was paper. Suddenly the shaking stopped and I shook my head, "I don't think that was an Earthquake Mom…"

Earthquakes didn't hit Nevada that often if ever. And speaking from personal experience, that didn't feel like Earth shaking. It sounded like something _big _hitting the ground. Like an Autobot or Decepticon.

Immediately I shot to my feet and forced the garage open. I had to make sure it wasn't what I feared it was. But when the door opened up and I saw what was happening, I couldn't help but gape. It wasn't an Autobot or Decepticon, no, that would be sensible.

Instead, it was a thirty foot tall giant robot. Yes that sounds like one of those two, but it's not. This one had a cylindrical body, three large legs, two on either side of its waist, and a third at the back. A large drill rested below them.

It had two large arms with wider forearms and three clawed hands. It's head was bulbous and rounded, with two large red eyes that dominated a good chunk of its face. A curved plate covered the rest of its metal skull if only just. And like those two drones that attacked me, it had rusty brown plating. Which meant one thing to me.

That giant robot had to be related to those drones. So it was looking for me. A fact that I realized was true when it's large almost insectlike head rotated and glared down at me. It was at the end of the street standing in a large crater that it easily walked out of. It immediately started walking towards me.

"Mom, try and evacuate the neighbors." I ordered.

She blinked, "What? Jack are you crazy-!"

"Just go!" I didn't want her getting hurt by what was going to happen. I punched my hands together, "I'll handle this."

Mom looked at me hesitantly, before sighing and running up next to me, "Be careful." she murmured, and then ran off to the neighbors house. Obviously she'd realized that I wasn't going to be talked out of this.

And she was right, I wasn't. I walked out of the garage and into the middle of the street. These robots were after me for some reason, though I wasn't sure what that reason was. It was probably related to the Watch, but that was only a side thought. The point was, these people were in trouble because of me.

So it was my duty to defend them and protect them. I stared up at the rapidly approaching giant robot and narrowed my eyes, "You want me big guy!?" I demanded, and slowly fell into a sort of boxers pose. I'm not really much a fighter, but it was the best I could do.

The giant robot's shadow fell over me and I gulped, "Then come and get me…"

**A/N: Sorry this took so long guys, I just kept adding and adding to it. Either way though, we'll see more of the bots later on next chapter, and we'll see Diamondhead in action next chapter, along with another alien. Any guesses on that alien? Let me know if you've got any guesses, and if not, let me know what you think of the mix of first and third person in the reviews. Otherwise, remember to review with critique and PM me with questions and story ideas. I don't bite… much.**

**Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Rumble In The Concrete Jungle

_Jasper Nevada, Jack's POV…_

There are times where I can suffer lapses in judgment. I mean, I am sixteen so it's bound to happen from time to time. Getting involved in a street race to impress Sierra? Poor judgment. Hopping onto a random motorcycle because I thought it looked cool? Yeah, poor judgment. Challenging a thirty foot tall giant killer robot to a one on one duel? I think at that point, poor judgment would be considered an understatement.

Thing is though, I didn't realize how poor a decision was until _after _said giant killer robot was towering over me. And I mean towering over me. It was like Optimus or Megatron was standing over me, it was that big. I craned my neck back and felt a little wide eyed by the giant robot before me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mom starting to get the neighbors out of the house and running as far away from me and my new 'friend'. For the moment the robot wasn't moving, it just seemed to be scanning me. I bit back a gulp and narrowed my eyes at the towering titan.

"Well!? You just going to stand there!?" I demanded, thankful for my deeper voice. Pretty sure I wouldn't have sounded as heroic if it was just me taunting the death machine. As the diamond skinned guy though? Quite the opposite effect. I sounded strong and confident, if only because of how deep my voice was.

The machine finally reacted to me and let out a series of low beeps and clicks. It then preceded to crush me with its massive left hand. I didn't have time to react, it just slammed me into the ground, shattering the street and pinning me in the newly formed crater.

I think Mom called my name in horror, but I was more focused on the giant hand gripping me. Surprisingly, even though I could feel the pressure crushing me, my body held up fine. It seemed whatever crystal or diamond I was made of was pretty tough stuff. Being pinned though wasn't good for me or anyone else, so I started struggling against the machine's iron grip.

Apparently the drone didn't like that, as it started to lift me up out of the ground. A few bits of rock fell from my spiky head and back, but I was unharmed besides that. I started slamming my crystalline hands against its steel claws to no avail. It just continued lifting me up until I was at eye level. It seemed to apply more pressure, but my new body was more than tough enough to handle it. I just kept smashing on its hand instead.

"Come on, let me go you hunk of junk!" I yelled, and continued slamming my fists onto its metal fingers. Every time there was a hollow 'dong, dong' from each impact, but this drone was made of tough stuff.

And hitting it over and over just seemed to piss it off. I felt the arm suddenly shift and my entire perspective. The drone reared back its arm, and by extension _me, _and then proceeded to chuck me across the street. The entire neighborhood flew by below me and I let out a surprised yell. I hit the ground with an earth shattering crash, and bounced across the ground a few times, leaving deep gouges in the asphalt.

I finally came to a stop though, when I hit a parked car and promptly flattened the cabin and engine compartment. A tired groan escaped my throat and I let my head fall back. I may not be able to feel pain or get hurt… But being tossed around like a chew toy wasn't exactly a fun way to pass the time.

My little rest didn't last long though; the drone wasn't finished with me, and the ground began shaking again. I lifted up my head and saw it quickly rushing towards me. once more I groaned.

"This was such a bad idea…" I moaned, and pushed myself up off the wrecked car and stumbled to my feet.

Ignoring the stars flashing across my vision, I managed to steady myself pretty quickly. Just in time too, as the giant robot came back and tried repeating it's tactic from earlier. I was ready this time, and jumped to the side right as it's fist buried itself in the remains of the car I had flattened when I crash landed.

"Hope he had insurance…" I muttered.

The drones head rotated to me and I narrowed my eyes. It was time to take this a little more seriously. I sprinted forward towards its buried arm and jumped for it. At the same time it pulled the same arm from the ground. I barely managed to grab onto its forearm, digging my diamond hard fingers into its steel skin.

With my makeshift hold in place, I held on for dear life as the robot lifted its arm up and looked at me like I was a giant bug. Which, given the size differences, made a lot of sense. It raised its free arm as if it were about to swat me off of it. Something that was in my best interest to avoid.

The arm descended and I hopped to my feet, running up alongside the drones arm, right as it hit its forearm with a loud metallic clang. I felt the vibrations travel up the drone and the ground shifted beneath my feet, but I kept running up towards its face.

I reared back my right arm and closed my hand into a fist, "Hey, ugly!" I yelled.

The drones head swiveled towards me right as I jumped towards it and punched it hard as I could in the big red eye. There was a loud crack, and I felt the eye give way under my fist. The entire things eye, or optic I guess, shattered and it staggered back away from me. A good thing, except I was now falling 30 feet towards the ground.

"Oh scrap!" I cursed and thrust my other arm out to try and grab hold of my larger foe, desperately searching for a handhold of some kind.

I didn't find a handhold, but I did feel and hear something tear. My arm suddenly jerked up and I stopped moving in an instant, banging my head on its chassis in the process.

"Ow…" I muttered, rubbing my skull. I looked up at my left arm and saw what happened. I had managed to pierce the drones chassis with my arm.

There was no time to question _how _I had accomplished such a feat though. The drone was quickly recovering from the damage I inflicted on its optic, and was turning its remaining blood red eye on me.

I gulped, "Uh-oh." and pulled my arm out of the makeshift hole I had made and fell to the ground. Surprisingly, I landed feet first with my knees bent to absorb the impact. I looked up at the drone, which had smacked itself in the chest where I'd been a moment ago.

"Not to smart, are you?" I thought aloud. Its eye fell back to me and it raised one of its legs up as if it were going to crush me.

I yelped and dodged out of the way while it crushed the patch of road where I'd been standing a moment before. I rolled forward and dug my left arm into the ground, twisting around so I would skid backwards on my feet. When I came to a stop, I pulled my arm out of the ground and saw how I'd left a hole in the machines chest.

My entire arm had morphed into some sort of…diamond or crystal blade. Light reflected off a dozen angular surfaces, and just one look at it told me all I needed to know. It was sharp, very, very sharp.

A smile crossed my face and I looked up at the approaching giant. Its destroyed optic was starting to spark and smoke, and the hole on its lower chest was barely noticeable. I thought it was about time I corrected it.

I willed my right arm into a similar blade format as my left arm and marveled at the change. A faint tingling sensation passed through my fingers and forearms, before my fingers melded into a tool for one purpose. Cutting, slashing, and overall dismemberment. With a smirk on my face, I ran towards the giant robot with my arms trailing behind me.

It didn't strike me odd that the machine was just standing there waiting for me. After all, I'd yet to see any real sign of intelligence from it. As far as I could tell, it was just going to try and throw its weight around, trying to crush me. So the fact that it didn't move when I charged it didn't strike me as odd.

Which is why I fell for its trick. I lashed out at one of its legs with my blade arms, only to miss and strike air. I blinked confused, "What?" and looked up.

The robot had somehow managed to jump a good couple dozen feet _above _me with its legs spread wide. I gaped while its lower section spun around so its rear third leg was facing forward. It then fell back to Earth and proceeded to obliterate the asphalt and leave me trapped underneath its bulk.

"Oh, great…" I groaned, and struggled in vain to free myself. The giant reached down and wrapped a metal hand around my torso. It stood up and lifted me up to eye level once more, and still struggling.

Unlike the first time though, my arms where still pinned to my side and the machine had an even tighter grip than before. I was pretty stuck for the moment, which had me pretty worried when it grabbed my head with its other hand and began squeezing.

"Gah! Let me go!" I ordered, struggling harder. I felt that familiar tingling sensation pass over my back and there was the sound of glass…shattering, I think, followed by the tearing of metal.

Next thing I knew, I was falling to the ground. And landed face first with a solid thud, "…Ow…" I pushed myself up with my now normal hands and looked up at the robot.

It was staring at its left arm confused by the now missing digits. Only its pinky remained. The rest had been cut clean off. Looking at my back, I saw why. A large crystal spike had burst from my back and cut right through the drones clawed hands. This new form was getting cooler and cooler all the time!

With but a thought, the large spike retracted into my back and I got back to my feet in time for the drone to raise an arm and blast me with a laser attached to its wrist. I promptly went flying through a nearby car and crashed into a tree, impaling it with the spikes on my back.

"…Really getting tired of that…" I grumbled, and pulled myself free. I fell onto my hands and knees and took a few steady breaths.

The drone started approaching me again, but it had knocked me a fair ways away, buying me sometime. I started getting up, when I heard a familiar voice call my name.

"Jack!" I looked up to see my Mom running towards me with a worried expression.

I blinked, "Mom!? What are you doing!?" I demanded.

She ran up to me and grabbed my arm, "Getting you out of here. The neighbors where either at work or have left already. Come on!"

Even though she tugged at my arm, I remained stationary and looked at the approaching robot, "I'm not going, not yet."

Mom froze and stared at me like I was crazy, "What!? Jack, that thing is tearing you apart!"

I shook my head and gently pushed her out of the way, "As long as I'm in this form, that robot can't hurt me. I've already damaged it, I just need to finish-"

Before I could make some big heroic speech about standing up to defend the innocent, I was interrupted by a very familiar and unwelcome beeping sound. Immediately followed by a flash of bright green light and a quick return to my human form.

I blinked and looked at myself, and then glared at the Watch, "Seriously!?"

How long had I spent as that fire guy? Nearly half an hour! And now, when I _needed _to stay in an alternate form, the Watch decided that that was a good time to turn me human again! It was like the thing was trying to get me killed!

Mom grabbed my arm, "Jack, run!" she dragged me along right as the robot tore the tree we'd been standing under out of the ground with ease and tossed it over its shoulder.

The two of us ran from the drone as fast as we could. The only reason it didn't catch us immediately was because it seemed as though the damage I'd done to it had slowed it down. Not that it mattered, the thing was still chasing us. Mom quickly released my arm and I started messing with the Watch frantically.

"Come on, come on! Work you stupid thing!" I yelled. Despite my words of encouragement though, the red dial just let out a tone before flashing a dull red. Nothing I did got a response out of the Watch and so I threw my arm down in frustration.

The Drone fired a laser at us, reducing the asphalt to molten rock. We barely avoided it and ran towards one of the now abandoned houses, with the Drone hot on our tails. I ducked into a nearby alleyway with Mom right behind me. The Drone towered over us, scanning the area with its remaining eye.

We pressed ourselves against the houses wall, breathing hard. My heart was hammering in my chest and I looked up at the giant machine. It slowly scanned the area back and forth, patrolling around the house. It was only through pure luck that it hadn't found us yet.

Mom reached for her phone and I grabbed her arm, "What are you doing?" I asked in a low whisper.

She gave me a look, "Calling the Autobots. They can handle this."

"You're going to call them!? Are you nuts!?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice quiet. I quickly explained to Mom why that was such a bad idea.

"That Drone might have some sort of transmitter on it or something. You call the bots and that raises a red flag for it." Mom blinked and slowly withdrew her hand. That tactic was how the Cons often found the Bots, so it wasn't too far a stretch to imagine that this Drone could pull something similar to find me.

The Drones shadow fell over us and we both slowly looked up at it. It still hadn't spotted us yet, but it was a matter of time. Mom gestured for us to crouch down and head to the front of the house. I quickly realized she hoped to run out from under its legs and hopefully give it the slip. Since calling the Bots was out of the question, we needed to get away from it as quickly as possible until the Watch let me use it again.

We reached the edge of the house and stopped there. The Drones leg was directly in front of us and didn't seem to be moving anytime soon. We'd have to be careful for this bit. While we waited though, I looked back at the Watch and started messing with it again. If I could turn into that diamond guy (I needed to start naming those forms), then I could hopefully finish the Drone off.

"On my mark…" Mom whispered, holding up a hand.

I nodded and was about to let the Watch go, when the dial lit up green and sprang up. I let out a silent cheer, "Yes!"

And then the Drone immediately spun around and slammed its uninjured hand into the house, "Run!" Mom ordered, and we ran for our lives. I kept spinning the dial, trying to find the familiar angular silhouette with no luck. The massive Drone ripped its hand from the now destroyed house, knocking debris everywhere.

A bit of wood hit me in the back of my legs and knocked me forward. Mom skid to a stop and turned towards me with horror scrawled across her face, "Jack!" she ran towards me, only for the Drone to slam its leg in front of her, knocking her back.

"Mom!" I rolled on my back to see those familiar steel hands descending towards me. I started scooting back frantically, before it suddenly hit me.

"Idiot." I cursed, and slammed my hand onto the Watch's dial, hoping against hope that I had chosen the diamond guy.

There was a flash of green and a new change took over me. I felt my skin boil and shift, the muscle on my thin frame suddenly tripling in mass, my bones thickening and my entire body going through a huge growth spurt. I felt pain on my sides, followed by two arms pushing themselves free. My skin quickly hardened into a thick red hide and like before, the world went dark. When it came back, I was seeing it through four eyes, instead of just two. I immediately jumped away from the descending hand, landing behind the leg that had stopped my Mom from coming to my aide.

She looked at me shocked, "Jack?"

The Drone started straightening up and I spared a look at myself. I now stood a good ten or twelve feet tall, with four muscular arms on either side of my torso. I wore black pants, with a light grey shirt, with a black collar and the ends of my sleeves where black. Oddly enough, there were two pauldrons on my upper shoulders, with the dial on the left one. I wore black fingerless gloves on my hands, which only had three fingers and a thumb each.

And I was built like a tank, did I mention that? Enough so that I put any human body builder to shame. Though my new face was lacking a nose, it was still fierce. With four dark blue eyes and a set of teeth with sharpened canines, I looked like a bruiser that could take on the best of them.

"This thing just keeps surprising me." I grunted, noting how nasally my voice sounded without a nose.

"Lookout!" Mom warned, and I looked to see another laser fired at me. I jumped back again, and landed with a heavy crash a small distance away.

I cracked my knuckles and neck, glaring up at the drone, "Alright big guy, lets wrestle" one of my worse quips, I'll admit.

The Drone scurried towards me at an incredibly fast pace, but this time I was a lot stronger than my diamond form. I grabbed one of its larger legs and wrapped all four limbs around it. The Drone struggled against me, but I pushed back just as hard. My feet dug into the ground, leaving thin gouges in the ground as it pushed me back bit by bit.

I let loose a growl, before tightening my grip on the leg and bellowing angrily. I heaved with all my might, and suddenly found I was _lifting _the entire Drone off balance. With one final yell, I flung the Drone off its third leg. It stumbled back trying to keep from falling. It nearly managed to do just that, except for one detail. Me.

I came charging at the Drone like a freight train, and _jumped thirty feet _to deliver one heck of a haymaker to its remaining optic. The glass shattered under my blow, and the entire Drone tipped back. I used its face as a springboard and jumped backwards off its face. A moment later, I crashed into the sidewalk and fell on my rear.

"Ouch. That didn't feel great." I grumbled, rubbing my head. The sound of creaking metal got my attention and I looked to see the Drone crash into the street. The entire area shook from the impact, and it lay there almost stunned.

I groaned and got to my feet while Mom ran up to me again, "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'll be fine." I assured her, and glared at the Drone, "Can't say the same about sparky though."

Mom looked over at the Drone, "Do you think its…"

The Drone suddenly surged back to life and started pushing itself back up, "That'd be a no." I said, and charged at it again. Not my smartest move, but I'll admit, in the four armed form, I was really easy to anger. And the Drone had done an excellent job in making me angry.

Angry for attacking my neighborhood, angry for attacking my home, angry for attacking me, and angry for attacking my Mom. I just needed to let off my steam again. Good thing people kept sending non-living drones after me to beat the snot out of.

I landed on the Drones chest with a loud crash and immediately grabbed at the hole I'd formed earlier. It looked up at me with its eyeless gaze and razed its arm to blast me, "I don't think so." I growled.

The Drone fired and I tore a piece of its plating up in time to block the blast. The plate itself was left scorched, but I was unharmed. I held the plate in place with my upper arms while using my lower arms to start tearing the hole apart. Metal and scrap went flying everywhere as I slowly tore the machine apart. Soon enough there was a hole large enough for me to fit through, and I jumped on in.

The next minute or so, I tore the Drones insides apart. Wiring, circuit boards, skeletal structure. You name it, I probably broke it at some point. And soon enough, smoke billowed out from the machines insides. I came up to its neck and while the details are a little fuzzy, Mom described it as me 'punching the Drones head off from the inside'. So that was pretty awesome I'll admit.

I stumbled out of the remains of the Drone, groaning and moaning, "Ugh…never doing that again." I mumbled.

Once again, Mom ran up to me, "Are you sure it's dead this time Jack?"

I gave the motionless Drone a tired look and nodded, "Yeah, I think it's dead Mom."

She let out a relieved sigh and hugged me around the waist. Apparently I was too big for that though, because her hands didn't even reach around, "Oh thank god." she trembled a little.

"Mom?" I tilted her head up with my lower arm, "You alright?"

She shook her head, "I'm terrified Jack. In the past few minutes I just saw you get attacked by a giant robot. And I couldn't even call the Autobots to help…"

I felt a bit guilty seeing her on the edge of tears, and knelt down in front of her, "Hey, hey. Don't cry Mom. I won, didn't I?"

Mom sniffed and wiped at her tears, "Yeah, this time. But what if they send more after you?"

That was a good point. If someone was willing to send a giant robot after me, just to get the Watch (Obviously it was after the Watch, it only attacked me directly) then odds are they'd send more after me. But call it a hunch or a feeling, but I didn't think that was very likely.

"If they do, I'll just kick their butt's like I did this time. As long as I have the Watch, I'll be fine." the dial on my shoulder began to flash red and let out that annoying beep. There was a bright flash of red light, and I reverted back to my human form.

Mom hugged me tight, and a few tears trailed down her cheeks, "I don't want to lose you Jack. Not like I lost your father."

I hugged her back, "You won't Mom, I promise."

She took in a shaky breath and released me, stepping back and giving a small smile, "You're so much like him now. So determined and so confident. He'd be proud of you Jack."

I gave a sad smile, "You think so?"

Mom nodded and ruffled my hair, "I do."

We both chuckled a little at that, before looking at the wrecked Drone, "So…" I started, "What do we tell the Autobots?"

_Earth Orbit, 3rd Person POV…_

The tank within the ships bridge boiled and seethed angrily, its crippled inhabitant raging the best he could in his reduced state. The officers aboard the bridge gave the tank a wide berth, trying their best not to get near it. The Captain might be crippled, but he was still dangerous.

"Failure!" He half roared, half gasped, "Unbelievable! The puny Earth being that is keeping the Omnitrix from me, shall soon hang on my trophy wall!"

His beady red eyes centered on one of the officers, "You…!" he gasped.

The officer froze and slowly looked at him, "I want…a bounty put on this humans head… I will have the Omnitrix… no matter the cost."

A slight nod was the only response he got from the Officer, but it was enough. The wielder of the Omnitrix would fall, the Captain was sure of that. He had come too far, lost too much to give up now. And if he did fail, Earth would not live long enough to enjoy it.

"I…swear it…"

_The Following Day, Jasper High Jack's POV…_

The day following my little escapade at school and in my neighborhood had been…hectic. After much debate, and I mean a good three hours of it, Mom and I agreed to keep the Watch secret for now. The Autobots had enough to worry about with the Decepticons and didn't need to add giant robots to their list.

I reasoned that as long as I could handle the threats that came my way, they didn't need to know. Mom eventually agreed to that, on one condition. She wanted to help me however she could if I was going to start doing this whole 'hero' thing. I had agreed, mostly so Mom wouldn't get too worried. If she wasn't allowed to help, she'd probably have a heart attack, if she didn't ground my first.

And when we got that out of the way, she and I had decided to come up with names for my new alien forms. How did we know they were alien? Well, the Watch fell from the sky, giant robots attacked me for it, and the forms clearly weren't human. So it made sense they were aliens.

Either way, the names were pretty simple. Very easy to remember too. The fire one we named Heatblast, the diamond one, get this, Diamondhead, and the most creative of the bunch, Four arms. Our creative process is mind boggling, isn't it?

Anyway, after all of that, the Autobots eventually learned about the attack on Jasper. They freaked out of course, but when they learned the aliens seemed to want to help, Optimus decided that it would be best not to interfere unless the Autobots directly encountered the 'alien visitors'. I was a bit relieved by that, though Arcee admitted she was more than worried about taking me to school the next day.

Apparently having a seven foot tall fiery alien running through school and setting off the sprinklers wasn't enough to cancel school. And so I had to go anyway, even if I really didn't want to. The day had gone by pretty quiet, except for one incident in first period when Vince got into a fight with the new kid, Kevin Levin.

And promptly got his ass kicked! I recognized that Kevin kid as the guy I bumped into the other day and activated the Watch. I didn't know him personally except that he seemed to keep to himself for the most part and drove a big green muscle car. Not bad, but I preferred motorcycles to be honest.

But after that little scuttle, the day went by pretty slow, until lunch that is. My friends and I were stationed under the stairs as usual, chowing down on our lunches. Or at least I was. Miko was about ready to explode with excitement.

"Dude! How did you not see him!? He was huge and made of lava!" she stared at me in disbelief.

I shrugged and leaned against the wall, "I just didn't Miko, okay? I was a bit busy getting soaked by the sprinklers." technically not a lie.

Miko gawked at me, "Yeah, but-"

"Miko." our small friend interrupted. The exchange student looked at Raf. About four and a half feet tall, Raf is short and dressed as a standard computer nerd. He just didn't really have braces or pasty skin. In fact he had an almost Latino heritage to him. His hair was also always spiked and his jeans where a bit too big for him.

And when it came to the three of us, Raf had a habit of being better at keeping Miko under wraps than I did. When I tried keeping her from going nuts, she just went even more nuts, so his help was appreciated.

"You realize I didn't see the fire guy either, right?" Raf pointed out.

Miko shrugged, "Yeah, but you're a freshman. Jack's a Junior and was on the same floor as him. He should have seen him!"

I sighed, "Well I didn't Miko, ok?"

That seemed to upset the girl, before she sighed and slouched back against the wall, "Fine, fine. Fair enough. But please tell me you saw the news about that giant alien smack down in your neighborhood!"

I almost chuckled at that, "Oh I did Miko. No way I could miss that."

And she immediately launched into a tirade about how awesome the aliens where and how the fight was unlike anything she'd ever seen. I just tried to hide my smile the whole time. Maybe there were some perks to this whole secret identity thing after all.

**A/N: And so we have three aliens out of ten. Heatblast, Diamondhead, and Fourarms. Another two, possibly three show up in the next chapter my friends, which I will be posting on Monday. I need a short break on Sunday just to relax, and then I'll get right back to writing, I promise, okay? Anyway, what did you guys think, huh? Pretty combat heavy chapter, major alien beatdown, all that great stuff. Let me know what you thought in the reviews, and also remember to critique and PM me with questions. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Mistakes

_Autobot HQ, 3__rd__ Person POV…_

The Autobot base is a well hidden structure, concealed within the bowels of one of the many mesas that litter the Nevada desert. Once an abandoned missile silo, it had been repurposed following the arrival of the Autobots on Earth. It was a slow and time consuming process, and a lack of resources meant the Autobots could only afford limited modifications at a time.

Which meant, that while the base was heavily shielded from the prying eyes of the Decepticons, if they ever managed to pinpoint their exact location, the base would be quickly and easily overwhelmed. Every one of the Autobots knew this, but there was little they could do. Building defenses to fight off Decepticon assaults would use too many resources, and likely draw attention to the structure.

After all, human weapons had no impact on Cybertronians. It would take true Cybertronian weaponry to make a difference, which would require the use of Energon, which the Cons could easily locate and would ultimately lead to an assault on the base. So in other words, arming the base would not be an option.

This was a fact that the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, had accepted when they first arrived on Earth. Without any significant number of Autobots to back up such defenses, the Autobots had to settle for remaining hidden. A strategy that had worked quite well in their favor for quite some time now.

But base defenses where hardly on the Autobot leaders processer at the moment. The night was growing long, and the humans had not even come to the base that day. He was currently watching the reason why on his terminal. A human news crew had managed to capture some of the battle between the aliens and that drone. Footage of the Pyronite had been taking from the children's school as well.

And watching it all, Optimus could not help but frown. He stood in the main hall of the base, with only Ratchet as his company. The others had fallen into recharge long ago, leaving the two old comrades to their devices. Ratchet was once more looking into the Synthetic Energon formula, while Optimus reviewed the footage, again and again.

It was starting to become repetitive, hearing the same echoes of battle emanating from the terminal. With no other noises in the base, the speakers echoed off the high walls and stone surfaces of the base. And tore at Ratchet's audio receptors, making the grumpy medic even grumpier than usual.

He eventually sighed and looked from his terminal, which was directly on the other side of the one Optimus was using, and let out a cough. Optimus blinked and looked at Ratchet with a raised optic ridge.

"Is something wrong Ratchet?" he asked, not aware of how much he was irritating the medic.

Ratchet sighed, "Optimus, you've been watching the same footage for several hours now. I don't see how these alien sightings pertain to us." Honestly, they weren't Cybertronian, and they weren't harassing the humans. So what did it matter that they were on Earth?

Optimus seemed to think that their presence was more important than that, "In any other circumstance Ratchet, I would be inclined to agree with you. However, I've noticed something strange about these aliens."

That didn't seem to impress the medic, but it got his attention. Optimus thought something was strange? At the very least, it warranted the benefit of the doubt. Ratchet sighed and walked around the terminals to look at the footage. He crossed his arms and looked at Optimus.

"And exactly what, is so strange about them?" he asked.

Optimus didn't reply. Instead he rewound the footage until it briefly showed the diamond alien engaging the drone (Really getting tossed around like a rag doll) and focused in on its chest. A faint dial could be seen on its waist, partially obscured by the pixilation.

"Firstly, I recognize this alien species, it is a Petrosapien. What's strange though," he started before Ratchet could say the obvious, "Is that the species was nearly wiped out several years ago. Only a handful are left, just like ourselves."

Ratchet remained unconvinced, "So? Near extinction happens all the time."

"Yes, true." Optimus admitted, "But for what reason would it have for coming to Earth? There is nothing of value for it here."

Ratchet shrugged, "Curiosities sake? Good Samaritan?"

"Unlikely." The Prime responded, and shifted the video to a brief picture of the large four armed Tetramand. He centered in on one of its pauldrons.

For a moment Ratchet didn't get why, until he saw a familiar symbol on its shoulder, "The dial symbol again?"

Optimus nodded, "Yes, it is the same as on the Petrosapien. The Pyronite also bares the symbol on its chest. I believe that these three aliens are connected somehow."

The medic scratched his chin, "That may be possible. Perhaps an interspecies faction we weren't aware of?"

"That seems like the most likely option." Optimus admitted.

"So, what does that mean then?" they had an idea of who these aliens where, but not what they wanted or why they were on Earth in the first place.

Even Optimus had no idea, "For the moment Ratchet, it means little. Unless we make contact with one of these aliens, it would be best to leave them be. This could be a delicate political situation. I do not wish to add to our list of enemies."

"MECH and the Decepticons are bad enough as is." Ratchet agreed, though the former faction had seemingly vanished ever since they stole Bumblebee's T-Cog. Ratchet hoped that the scouts attack on their base had convinced them to stop attacking Cybertronians. A shallow hope perhaps, but it was better than no hope at all."

Optimus continued to stare at the screen with a neutral expression, "For now, Ratchet, I want the Autobots to avoid confronting these aliens unless absolutely necessary. We haven't an idea on who they may work for, or what they're intentions are."

"And the children?"

"We will protect them as we always have." Optimus assured Ratchet. Aliens or not, the children would remain safe under the Autobots watch. They would never come to harm again, that was a promise…

_Jasper Nevada, One Week After Drone Attack, Jack's POV…_

You know, after that Drone nearly destroyed the neighborhood, things went back to normal fairly quickly. No more machines came after me, the school was quickly repaired, and my neighborhood itself was under reconstruction. A good chunk of houses had been damaged or destroyed, yet ours had remained untouched oddly enough.

Of course, we had to use alternate routes to get to work and school, but that was a small price to pay for keeping our home. And with most of the neighborhood gone, it gave us plenty of time to practice with the Watch. I quickly learned the basics of using all ten alien forms, and even naming them. After the first three, we sort of decided on simple names for each one. It made them easier to remember and fit better than the more complex ones Mom came up with.

And of course, I practiced with each one the best I could. A few of them though didn't exactly seem useful. One was a large humanoid fish with a giant set of jaws with serrated teeth. Powerful for sure… but he started to suffocate in the hot desert air if he wasn't constantly moisturized. So I would be using him very little in the future, unless there was some sort of crime going on at the water park.

There was another lesser one, a little grey alien we named Grey Matter. Partially because he was grey, and partially because he seemed to boost my IQ to Einstein levels. Math, science, just about everything was easy as Grey Matter. Mom immediately forbade me from using him to do my homework. Compromise, compromise I guess.

But even with these two alien forms that weren't great for combat, there were still plenty of others I would get to use. And you'd think in a small middle of nowhere town, there wouldn't be a lot of crime, right? Well, a week ago, you would've. After the Drone attacked though, Jasper became a bit of a tourist hotspot. After all, aliens and giant robots? That's going to attract some people.

Sadly though, with every good thing that came to Jasper, something bad liked to tag along. Remember how I said a chunk of my neighborhood was being rebuilt? Well not every inhabitant had come back for their stuff. And this made them prime targets for looters and the like. The police kept it down to a degree, but at night was where they would strike. And since the house was destroyed already, there was no way of knowing if someone had actually looted it or not. So the looters would get away scot free.

Now, there's a number of things I don't like in this world. Bully's, criminals, Decepticons, and art history are a few of those things. But people who loot my neighborhood? Especially since I know all our neighbors to some degree from community events or odd jobs I did for them? Well, I'm not a fan of scum like that at all.

So when three lightly armed goons decided to rob one of said houses so noisily a deaf blind man could have heard them, I decided it was about time for a little 'heroic action'. The house itself was the one the Drone had destroyed trying to get to Mom and I. Its roof had been reduced to splinters, and the side of the house had caved in. A lot of debris littered the front lawn too, which sent out one signal to any crook with half a brain.

The house was free for looting.

The three goons had already completed their haul when they quietly exited through the side wall and made their way to the escape van. One of them kept look out the entire time as they slowly walked over to the van. Another opened the side door and the two behind him hopped into the back. The third walked around front and got into the driver's seat.

He started up the car and with a huff of the engine, began driving down the street. After a few minutes of silent driving, the crooks let out relieved sighs and pulled of their masks while setting their bags down.

"One more haul for the week guys. That ought to be worth something." The driver said to the back.

One thug, a blonde haired guy with a square jaw, chuckled, "Easy money guys. I mean really, no police or anything? Are they stupid?"

The other one in the back, this one with shaggy brown hair and an angular face made his way up to the passenger seat, "Not stupid, small. Cops can't stick around here all the time, there's only like ten of them. Plenty if half the town hadn't been blown up by those aliens."

The driver snorted, "Aliens, what a load. Probably some government experiment or some crap like that. Aliens ain't real, everyone knows that."

"Dude, one of them was made of friggen diamonds!" the blonde one pointed out, "The other was a walking campfire!"

"So?" the Driver demanded. The two immediately descended into an argument about whether aliens where real or not, something that was really amusing honestly.

By now though, you're probably wondering where I was during all of this? Well, let's just say I didn't want a repeat of the Drone incident anytime soon, so I tried something a little more subtle than just going Four Arms and juggling these idiots.

And it was about two minutes into their conversation that I decided to but in, "Actually, blondies right. Aliens do exist."

"See! Told ya!" the crook smiled triumphantly, before realization took hold, "…Um…who said that?"

The driver yelped, "Ah! The steering wheel just shocked me! What the hell?"

Suddenly, the entire van began to shift. The side paneling outside turned bright smooth white, while the roof and nose where covered in a black and blue circuit board. The inside was covered in the same pattern, and the entire vehicle morphed into a sleeker and more advanced variant of their getaway car. A dial with an hourglass symbol in the center formed on the grille.

All three crooks looked around frantically, "What's going on here!?" the brown haired one screeched.

"Aliens my friend. Aliens." I answered. The windshield suddenly turned dark black and that familiar blue circuitry spread over the blackness. At the center of it, a large blue circle formed and then narrowed into an 'angry' expression.

The crooks all screamed in horror, the driver throwing his hands up in fear. I kept the van going straight though, one of the benefits of that alien form. Mom and I called him Upgrade, and he was an alien with the ability to combine with bits of technology and, well, upgrade it. It was a surreal feeling for sure, sliding over and slipping into every crevice on a piece of gadgetry, but it had its uses too.

Like sneaking into a getaway van to trap three criminals while I drove them to the police station at a gentle speed. I snapped all three into place with a series of six seatbelts each, holding them firmly in place as I drove. And they were all going hysterical all the while.

"You know, that's getting pretty irritating." I chirped. The ring in the center of the windshield flashed every time I spoke. This did not make the crooks stop panicking.

I let out a sigh, "This is the part of being a hero they never warn you about." I muttered under my breath.

For the rest of the drive, I pretty much ignored the crooks and their panicking. I was thankful that the police station was only a five minute drive away on a bad day. Because if I'd had to listen to them panic any longer than that, I would have been really annoyed.

I reached the station soon enough, and parked in front of it. The station was an old two story brick building. Nothing fancy, just functional like most of the buildings in Jasper. We didn't have a budget to go 'fancy', just practical. I quickly scanned the area and noticed a nearby cop car with two cops getting in. Perfect.

The van chugged along and I pulled straight in front of them. They stared at the admittedly odd looking van with their eyes wide. I recognized one of them as the local sheriff, Miguel Esquivel. Raf's dad. Nice man for the most part. Terrifying if you're on the wrong side of the law though.

"Caught these guys trying to loot a house." I explained. The van door slid open and I pretty much flung the trio out onto the cruisers hood. They were all tied up still and freaking out, but the cops where more focused on staring at me.

I couldn't help but smirk as I slid the door shut, "…Um…thanks…" Miguel muttered.

"Don't mention it." I said, and drove off back home humming to myself. This was pretty much my second hidden life now. No one but Mom knew about it, and as long as I handled problems like that, no one ever would know about it.

I liked to think at the time that I was balancing the hero life with the Bots and school pretty well…For the most part anyway…

_Following Day, Natural History Museum…_

"Jack!"

I jerked awake with a start, "I'm awake!" I yelped, before realizing where I was. In the bus parked in front of the local Natural History Museum. The same one Miko, Raf, and I robbed a few months back. Long story, but it was to help the Autobots, so technically it was made legal.

The drive there was a touch long, but normally I could handle it. Apparently after last night, not so much. Falling asleep was not easy after you catch a few crooks. I thought I'd get use to it eventually, but at the moment that was not the case. Which was why I'd fallen asleep in my seat on the drive there.

Miko was staring at me with a raised brow. She'd tagged along because the field trip was a joint sophomore/junior trip. So while she got to come along, Raf was still at school. Poor kid.

"Dude, this is like, the third time in a row." Miko told me, "You doing alright?"

I yawned and stretched, then wiped a little bit of drool out of the corner of my mouth, "I'm fine." I assured her, "Just a little tired is all. Stayed up a bit late."

Went to bed at one in the morning. Not great when school starts at 7 AM. Miko frowned, "Again? And you say I have bad habits Jack."

I stood up in my seat and saw that the bus was starting to empty, "That's because you do, Miko." I told her.

She scooted out of her seat and followed the line of students with me in close proximity. A small part of me didn't like always hanging around Miko when Raf wasn't around. Rumors had a habit of spreading, and the current rumor was that Miko and I where dating. Not true at all of course, I'd sooner date a cactus than date her, but it was annoying. Especially since Miko and I clearly where just friends.

But kids will be kids, and so my chances of getting a date at school where cut in half because of that stupid rumor. Go figure. The rest of the class filed off the bus into the parking lot, meeting up with the other classes from two other big yellow buses. I sighed when I saw that Vince had managed to get onto the trip too. There was no getting away from that guy, was there?

I noticed Kevin had too, and that he and Vince where very far apart. Whether this was because Vince was scared of Kevin, or because the teachers didn't want the two fighting, was anyone's guess.

Miko suddenly punched me in the arm, "I do not have bad habits." She silently hissed as the teacher took role.

I looked at her while I rubbed my arm, "Oh really? How about punching me for saying something about you a good three minutes after I said it?"

"Wanted to make sure none of the rumor spreaders saw it." She grumbled.

That made me wince, "You heard those huh?"

Miko glared at me, "Not a word about them Jack. Got it?"

"Hey, hey. I'm innocent." I protested, "Besides, you're not my type."

The exchange student let out a sigh of relief, "Ditto."

The teacher suddenly called everyone to attention, and explained what was going to happen. We were going to break into ten separate groups of ten and were allowed to explore the museum at our leisure. The groups were announced after, and I learned that Vince was avoiding Kevin, the teachers knew nothing of their feud. Or his feud with me apparently either.

Because all three of us wound up in a group together, while Miko was put in a different group with the history teacher Mr. Benjamin. A cool guy, but he was very strict on rules… And his group had a habit of having half of the couples put into it. The implications of this where fairly obvious, and Miko steamed angrily.

I gave her an apologetic shrug, while the rest of the groups filed into the museum. Just like I remembered, it was tall and wide, with ceilings that stretched a good forty feet up. A few dinosaur skeletons hung from the ceiling, and a large T-Rex was in the middle. Guess they wanted to break out the big guns first.

Looking around, I saw a very familiar looking Greek Statue in one of the exhibits down the hall. The fake Energon Harvester was still resting in its hand, not that anyone would ever know. Ratchet was good at making fakes apparently.

"Okay, where to first?" our group leader asked. Mr. Boehmke, good guy. He was the Art teacher and also the football coach. Former coach anyway. He also was one of the more 'alert' teachers in comparison to some of the others anyway.

Hopefully this meant that Vince wouldn't try and torment me, though with Kevin around, the odds of being left alone where double their standard. I didn't know how the whole fight went down, just that it didn't end very well for the red head.

Someone suggested the Egyptian exhibit, so that's where we headed. On the walk there, Vince decided that even with a teacher and Kevin nearby, that tormenting me was still the best option available. Figures.

First thing he did? Flicked me in the back of the head. Repeatedly. I tried ignoring it at first, acting like feeling him constantly thumping my skull wasn't irritating the crap out of me. I didn't last long before I glared at him over my shoulder.

"Quit it!" I hissed.

Vince looked at me innocently, "Quite what, Darby? I'm not doing anything."

I glared at him, "That's a load of shit Vince, and you know it."

The bully chuckled, "Oooh, watch the language Jack." He warned me in that mocking tone of his.

My fist tightened angrily. I don't know what it is, maybe it's his snotty demeanor, or the fact that he never respects anything I do, but Vince always gets me riled up. It takes like, five seconds and I'm ready to punch his lights out. I don't of course, but it was looking really tempting at the moment.

"Alright everyone." Mr. Boehmke suddenly said, "You can split up and look around. Meet at the exhibit exit when you're done looking around."

A small smile spread over my space and I immediately scurried away from Vince. I knew the perfect way to get back at Vince. And it happened to be attached to my wrist. In a few seconds, I managed to get to the museum bathroom and slipped inside. I checked each stall to make sure there was no one around, and when I was sure I was alone, I slipped inside the nearest stall and pulled my sleeve back.

The Watch was there waiting for me and I smiled mischievously to myself and activated it. The Dial popped up with a chime and the familiar shadowy figures appeared. I began looking through the various forms with that grin ever present.

"Let's see, Grey Matter? No. Upgrade? Nah. Heatblast? Definitely no." I came to a stop on a ghostly figure and laughed to myself a little evilly. It's worth noting that I had tried being nice to Vince in the past and he always instigated me. This was just a little payback.

"Let's see how much Vince freaks when he sees me next time." I slammed the dial down and there was a flash of light. Immediately my skin began to pale, I felt my body weight drop to almost zero, and my eyesight went dark. When I could see again, it was from one eye in the center of my featureless face. My entire body was a single smooth teardrop floating off the ground with a few thin veins cutting across my chest and back. The Dial was placed on my chest of course, and my skin had turned an unnatural grey.

I looked at my four fingered hands and shivered, _"No matter how many times I change into him, Ghostfreak still…freaks me out…" _my voice had turned a faint raspy, like leaves brushing against the sidewalk. It was unnerving, like the rest of this alien.

Every time I changed into Ghostfreak, I felt like my entire body was just…crawling. It didn't feel right. I didn't feel like me, but at the same time I _was _me. A bit confusing, I know, but it still made me reluctant to use him at times. Other times, like getting back at Vince? Totally worth it. And it wasn't like I was going to hurt the guy. Just give him a good scare.

I closed my translucent hands and chuckled, _"Well Vince… I hope you packed an extra pair of pants… You're gonna need it…"_

_Natural History Museum, 3rd Person POV…_

The group of students had migrated into the biology exhibit a short time later. It was set up to look like a sort of large forested area with various animals stuck in poses that one would see them striking in the real world.

But hardly anyone paid attention to that, they were focused on something else, "Where did Jack wander off to?" Mr. Boehmke demanded, hands on his hips.

"Kid probably got lost." Kevin shrugged.

"Good riddance." Vince muttered.

Boehmke's eyes fell on the red head and he very faintly smirked, "Mr. Vermont, why don't you go look for Jack and bring him back to our little group?"

Vince shook his head, "No thanks teach. The loser got lost, that's his fault."

"That wasn't a request." Boehmke reaffirmed with a stern tone.

The teen blinked and then sighed, "Right…" and trudged off to find Jack. He went down one of the lone halls by himself, scuffing the floor with his shoe.

"Why did I have to be the one picked?" He grumbled, "I hate Darby. The kids a prick and yet everyone still seems to like him!" Vince had a variety of reasons for why he didn't like Jack, chief among them was because the kid was too mellow. It was odd for sure, but Vince's testosterone fueled brain attributed 'mellow' to 'wimp'. And 'wimp' meant easy prey.

Even if Jack outsmarted and outsnarked Vince repeatedly, the bully always came back for more, "Maybe I'll teach him a lesson after the trip." Vince muttered.

He suddenly stopped and looked around, "Where the hell am I?" he wasn't in the biology exhibit anymore, that was for sure. It looked more like he'd wandered into an in between hall. One with no decoration of any sort and no visible guides. The lights flickered overhead and the entire hall felt like it was slowly being swallowed up by the darkness.

"Ugh," the teen shivered, "It's like something out of the Haunting…" he continued onwards though, just wanting to find Jack and get out of there.

After a few moments of walking though, he heard something. It was faint and he couldn't figure out what it was at first. But after listening intently, the words became clear, _"…Oser…Loser…Loser…"_

Vince scowled and whirled around, "Alright, who has the balls!?" he demanded. There was no one there. Just the empty dark hall.

The red head lowered his guard and rubbed his head, "Damn nerves. I'm hearing crap now."

Who would honestly have the gall to call _him _a loser? Not even Darby was that stupid. Besides, that was normally Vinces job. To call other people losers that is, not himself. The teen continued on through the hall, when he felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

Vince stopped and slowly looked around. Now the room was definitely getting darker, and the lights were starting to go out. He gulped and his eyes darted from side to side, "Okay, what the hell is going on here!?" he demanded.

A light went 'Pop!' and one end of the hall went dark. The process repeated on the other end and Vince went wide eyed, "Seriously!? Darby, this isn't funny!"

_"Hehehe…" _a raspy voice chuckled. Something brushed up against his arm and Vince jumped. But when he looked to his side, no one was there…

He grabbed at his arm and gulped, "W-what the hell?"

Something light brushed against the skin at the back of his neck and Vince yelped, "Okay! This isn't funny anymore!"

_"Oh…I disagree…" _the raspy voice replied.

A breeze blew against Vince and he jumped, _"I find this…hilarious…"_

"Well I don't!" Vince snapped, "And who the hell is this!? Is this some kind of joke!?"

_"Joke?" _the voice asked, _"Who said this was a joke?"_

Vince felt two hands gently grab his shoulders. He immediately whirled around with his fist clenched tightly… only for it to pass right through his tormentor. And then he saw what had been tormenting him. Well, no. All he saw was a single sickly purple eye staring him in the face.

"What the hell!?" Vince screamed, and fell on his rear.

The ghostly figure chuckled and floated towards Vince, _"What's the matter Vince? Scared?"_

Vince scrambled backwards. His face pale and sweat trailing down his face, "Y-y-you're a-a-a…"

_"What? A ghost?" _the figure asked, and lowered himself so he was eye level with Vince.

He looked at his hand as if he saw it for the first time, _"Well what do you know. I am…"_

The sickly purple eye fell back on Vince, _"Boo motherfucker."_

And Vince promptly went running down the halls, screaming like a madman. Ghostfreak floated up and would have grinned if he had a mouth, _"I've got to see how this ends…" _he rasped, and followed Vince.

The poor bully was running as fast as he could down the hall through the darkness. He had to get back to the group, had to get away from that ghost. Screw Darby, he wanted to live! If only his legs would get him to where he needed to-

"Oof!" Vince ran full force into someone and fell back again.

He rubbed his head and looked up with that terrified expression on his face. The man he ran into didn't help much with his fear. He had unruly white hair, sickly pale skin, and a permanent sneer etched into his face. He was dressed in the outfits all the museum professors wore, namely a white labcoat.

And he looked pissed at Vince, "Young man, what are you doing!?" he demanded angrily.

Vince shrank back, "I-I-I-"

"Well, answer me!?" the professor seemed to be one unstable nut. Clearly he didn't get that Vince was terrified beyond all measure.

And when the Teen didn't answer, the professor scowled, "I said-"

"Animo!" both Vince and the professor, Animo, looked to the side where a man in a business suit was angrily storming towards him, "What are you doing here? I fired you months ago!"

Animo glared at the man, "I was coming to retrieve the equipment I forgot."

"We tossed it." the man replied and pointed to the exit, "Now, get out of my museum you nutcase."

The 'professor' sneered but reluctantly left, "You'll pay for this Jonathan. I swear it!"

Jon shook his head as Animo left, "Freak." he muttered and turned back to Vince, "You alright son?"

Vince gulped and shook his head, "G-g-g-"

"Alright, calm down. Let me help you out." Jon offered a hand to Vince and pulled the boy up. He helped him get back to his group, trying to calm him down. All the while, Ghostfreak watched silently from the ceiling…

_Jack's POV…_

_"…What is wrong with me!?" _I demanded of myself.

I wanted to give Vince a little scare, not traumatize him for life! But the moment I went Ghostfreak and started putting on the act, it was like I was a different person. Instead of just giving him a little scare, I practically went psychotic on the guy!

And now Vince had pretty much pissed himself in fear. Way to go Darby, some hero you are! Sure you catch criminals, but you torture High School bully's too. Great!

I hung my head and drifted back to the bathrooms. I slipped into one of the stalls right as I reverted back to human form, and promptly slammed my head against the stall door.

"Stupid stupid stupid!" I growled. What was I thinking!? Not only had I abused the Watch, terrified Vince, but Mom was going to tear me apart.

At that point I promptly decided that my day couldn't possibly get any worse. Oh how wrong I was….

_Natural History Museum, 3rd Person POV…_

Animo growled angrily as he got in his rusty old beater car. That fool Jonathan had gotten into his way far too many times. First interfering with his research by cutting his funding, then firing him, and now preventing him from retrieving the final piece of his research!

"He'll pay." the Doctor promised himself.

"Oh they'll all pay." he began to drive out of the parking lot, "Soon, everyone will learn to respect my genius! They'll all regret their taunts and treatment."

He grinned maliciously, "They'll all learn to fear the great, Dr. Animo!"

**A/N: Well, this was an odd chapter I'll admit. It was going to be one whole thing initially, but I decided breaking it apart would be easier for me and let me make the chapter a little better. Next chapter we get to see a fan favorite of the Ben 10 verse, I bet you'll never guess what alien it is. But if you want to guess, there's a little box in the bottom of the screen that'll tell you exactly what you want to see. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and remember to review with critique and PM me with questions. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Animal Instinct

_Nevada, 3__rd__ Person POV…_

Animo arrived at his apartment half an hour later. On the outskirts of Jasper, the building was old and decrepit, run by an obnoxious landlord who could never seem to mind his own business. If he wasn't pestering his tenants for their monthly rent, he was simply butting in to see what was going on in their lives.

He was an irritating distraction, and much like the apartment, a temporary inconvenience for Dr. Animo. Soon, such degrading conditions would be a thing of the past, a bad memory once his genius was fully realized. He was close, so very close to finishing his research. But he'd been delayed by that foolish Museum Curator.

"A minor setback." He assured himself as he pulled into the parking lot and came to a stop in the tiny facility.

There was a harsh grinding sound and his car shut off with a dying 'thwump wump wump'. Another thing that would change when he was praised would be his horrible car. It had been a steal (Literally) but now it was as much an annoyance as his landlord. Either way, Animo gathered a few papers from the passenger seat and marched into the brick building.

The inside was dimly lit by a handful of yellow bulbs, and the wallpaper was stained and greasy. A few fly's drifted about lazily, sometimes landing on the walls to get a little snack from the various stains. The sound of air conditioners blowing full force through the building to try and cool it was painfully evident and added to Animo's lists of ever growing annoyances.

With a grunt, he made his way to the end of the hall in front of his apartment door. He pulled his keys out and unlocked the door, walking into what could be considered the poor man's equivalent of a zoo. Dozens of aquariums and cages were scattered about the apartment, some stacked one on top of the other. Fish, lizards, snakes, frogs, salamanders, rats, hamsters, and even a Chihuahua were all kept in these cages, yet seemed to be taken care of well to a certain degree. Despite the horrid condition of the apartment itself, the cages were clean and neatly maintained.

Animo was a scientist after all. He would not allow his specimens to be tainted by an unclean living environment. So he made sure each of them was kept clean in order to ensure that his tests would be as successful as possible. It was an interesting contrast to his workbench, which was an assorted mess of papers, scrap metal, half empty coffee mugs, and a large variety of energy bars and Red Bull.

Setting his papers down on the ever-growing leaning tower of paperwork, Animo turned his attention to a strange series of metal boxes and spaghetti strainers resting in the center of his desk. They were all rusted to some degree, but connected with a mess of wiring and plating.

He let out a frustrated sigh, "So close, and yet so far away! I am missing but a few components for it to be completed!" he was halfway done with the device. Phase 1 could be initiated, but Phase 2 could not. He would need to get his research from the museum before it could be completed. And at this point, he may have to resort to unsavory methods.

"I am a doctor, a scientist seeking to change the very world as we know it." The man sighed and pulled his unnaturally long and white hair back out of his eyes, "And yet I may be forced to resort to petty theft if I wish to continue my work."

He looked at the nearest tank, where a Bearded Lizard was sunbathing itself on a log, "Perhaps it is necessary though. All great minds have been required to do the unsavory to achieve greatness. I suppose I will have to do the same."

There was a sudden and loud knock on the door, shaking Animo from his reminiscing of greatness and replacing it with an angry sneer, "What!?" he demanded.

"Open up, Animo! It's your landlord! Your rent is three weeks overdo." An angry voice yelled.

Animo scoffed and returned to his work, ignoring the anger of his landlord, who continued to bang on his door as if that was going to make it magically open. The most it did was make the animals in their cages stir.

"Ignorant fool. He does not comprehend the genius of our work." Animo growled, trying to ignore the banging.

After another minute of it, the banging finally and mercifully stopped, letting Animo resume his work in full. Right up until he heard the lock click and the door flew open with a thunderous slam against the wall. His landlord, Terry, stood there with an angry look on his face. He was an overweight balding man, who was about a foot too short and about two feet too wide. A button up shirt was left open over a white stained shirt underneath.

Terry looked about ready to tear Animo a new one, but that quickly changed. Upon entering the room though, Terry immediately grimaced and held his nose when the stench of animal life wafted across his nostrils.

"Phew, smells like a cattle farm in here." He groaned, before setting his eyes on target. Animo still had his back to him as he worked to assemble the device before him.

Terry waltzed forward with that sneer on his face, "Alright Animo, I've been patient with you, bought your little excuses, even extended the date when your rent was due. But time to pay up now, or you and your 'animal friends' are out on the street."

Animo ignored him and kept working. Terry scowled, "Hello, Animo!?You hearing me, or have you spent so much time living like an animal that you forgot how to talk?"

Finally, the Doctor stopped, "I do not appreciate my work being interrupted, Terrance." He sneered.

"Then maybe you should've paid your rent." Terry replied with crossed arms, "I don't appreciate being stiff armed. Give me your rent and I'll let this little incident go."

Animo tensed, "All of my funds go into my research, Terrence. I cannot waste them on such petty expenditures."

That wasn't the answer Terry wanted to hear. Far from it in fact. He nearly snapped then and there, but the fact that Animo had yet to actually turn to him and the fact that he was hunched over something was enough to let the man's curiosity get the better of him.

"And what exactly have you been wasting my rent on?" he demanded.

Animo grabbed the device and slipped it on over his head. He placed the other half over his torso and turned to Terry. Who immediately burst out laughing. The device Animo wore was a spaghetti strainer helmet, with two large 'horns' attached to it. A small circular device hung from the helmet over his chest. Overall though, Animo looked ridiculous, like a giant pot bellied bug.

"_That's_ where my money's been going!?" Terry laughed and leaned over gasping for breath, "I'm not sure if I should be angry, or laugh my ass off!" technically though, he was doing both.

Animo scowled and opened one of his cages, pulling the Bearded Dragon out and setting it on the floor, "Only goes to show how far your ignorance goes, Terrance. This is my transmodulator, my ground breaking research that will change biology as we know it."

Terry wiped a tear from his eye, "Can it change your sense of fashion too?" he laughed.

Instead of replying, Animo grinned maliciously, "Allow me to give an example of Phase 1 for you Terrance." He grabbed a set of goggles off the table and slid them over his eyes.

"Initiating Phase 1. Accelerated evolution of animal life!" he cranked the dial on his chest and red energy arched across the horns on his helmet. It leaped forward at the lizard on the floor, and exploded into a ball of light that filled the apartment.

Terry yelped and backed away, covering his eyes as he did. The light faded as quickly as it appeared though, allowing the man to lower his arm. And gape at what had happened, thanks to Animo.

The Bearded Dragon had mutated into a form far more fitting of its name. It was easily larger than a car, and stood on thick muscled legs with sharpened spikes covering its entire body as a form of makeshift armor. Its muzzle hand elongated, and sharp fangs peaked out from between its lips, while two massive horns curved out from the base of its skull and formed a battering ram in front of its now blood red eyes. The tail had four large spikes sprouting from it, two on either side, and two large spiked fins on its back. And to top it all off, all four of its legs ended in sharpened claws that where easily a good seven inches long.

"W-what the hell!?" Terry yelped, stumbling backwards.

Animo walked up next to his creation with a grin, "Oh, did I mention it was feeding time?" he added.

Terry looked at Animo in horror for a brief moment. The Doctors smug grin was the last thing he ever saw. The giant pounced on him a moment later and devoured him, tearing him apart with its new sharpened teeth.

"An excellent field test." Animo chuckled darkly, still grinning. The man had gotten what was coming to him, and with his new pet by his side, so would the others who mocked him.

His device fizzled and belched a smoke, making Animo frown, "The power supply is limited though." He admitted, "I'll need to stock on a new source of power. Double A batteries. And I know just where to find them."

The Lizard raised its head up and looked at Animo curiously. The good Doctor patted its snout, "Yes my pet, you're correct. We're going to the mall!"

_Jasper High, Jack's POV…_

Hours after the fieldtrip, and I was still feeling guilty about what I'd done to Vince. Even after the Museum Curator had brought him back to our group, he was trembling and pale all the while. It was obvious that he was pretty messed up, because even _Kevin _didn't want to try and mess with him. All I could do was give him an occasional regretful glance.

Sure, Vince had been a jerk, but did he really deserve to have Ghostfreak freak him out so badly? A brief amount of time spent thinking about that question gave me an answer fairly quickly. No, no he did not.

And the fact that I did it anyway was bugging me all the way up until we returned to school. We got back right as the final bell rang and many students began spilling out of the school entrance. The rest of us piled out of the bus, I with my head still hanging. I'm normally pretty good at staying positive, but I do occasionally suffer from brooding. Comes with the whole superhero thing, I guess.

Miko walked up alongside me with a curious expression on her face, "Okay…what's wrong Jack?" she demanded.

I blinked and looked at her, "What?"

"What's wrong?" she repeated, "You've been acting gloomy ever since you got put into a group with Vince."

I realized I probably had been acting a bit odd since then, but I just shook my head at Miko, "I'm fine Miko. Just a little tired is all."

"No really, what's bugging you?"

"Why do you care?" I asked in reply. Miko wasn't a people person. She didn't normally care how people felt, so her asking me what was wrong meant two things. Either she was _really _bored, or I was really out of it.

Something she confirmed with her next statement, "You don't do gloomy Jack. You might be a kill joy, but you're never gloomy."

"Gee thanks, I'm touched." I sighed, and looked at the parking lot. The bots weren't here yet, so I was stuck with Miko. Or would've been, if I hadn't seen a familiar red sedan driving into the Parking lot.

Miko followed my gaze and raised a brow, "Dude, what's your mom doing here?" she asked.

I had a feeling I knew why, but I had to play dumb just in case, "No idea Miko."

Mom pulled up in front of us and stepped out of her car with a smile, "Hi Jack. Miko."

"Hi Mrs. Darby." Miko grumbled. She and Mom didn't get along too well. Mom was too protective for her apparently. But Miko never got it through her skull that Mom was just trying to keep us safe the best way she could. She didn't always make the best choices, but she was trying her best.

That's how I saw it anyway

Miko didn't though, so I intervened before she tried to start something, "So, Mom." I said quickly, "What brings you here? I thought you had work?"

Mom shrugged, "I got off early today and was wondering if we could spend some time together. It's been a while you know."

Complete and total lie, given the recent events of the past week. But I didn't bother to point that out. I knew what Mom really meant when she said 'spend some time together'. She was going to take me out to train with the Watch. I was getting better with the Aliens, but even I knew I needed more practice with my alien forms.

So I nodded in agreement, "Okay, fair point." I looked over at Miko, "Can you tell Arcee what happened to me?"

Miko stared at me dumbstruck, "Dude… seriously? You're abandoning us to hang out with your _mom_!?"

I shook my head. I wanted to explain the real reason of course, tell her I was actually going to train. But I had a secret identity to hold up. If I told Miko, she was liable to tell Raf and the bots, who would want to get involved. And then this hero stuff would get about thirty times more complicated than it already was. Honestly, I was working better alone than if I had to worry about protecting someone, or vice versa.

"Look, just tell her, okay?" I repeated.

Miko gave me a suspicious look before giving a shrug, "Whatever. Your loss dude."

"Noted." I mumbled, and walked over to the passenger door. I flung my backpack into the backseat and hopped in.

Mom nodded, said goodbye to Miko (Who responded in her standard Miko fashion) before climbing back into the driver's seat. A moment later, we were exiting the parking lot and heading through the commercial districts to the area outside of town.

Silence engulfed the two of us as Mom drove. She was focused on the road at the moment, and I was simply resigned to looking out the window and brooding about what I'd done. It wasn't the first time I had abused some sort of advantage I had over Vince. The racing incident with Arcee and Raf's guardian Bumblebee came to mind and I let out a sigh.

What I did with Ghostfreak though, was just as bad if not worse. Sure Vince had been caught by cons during the race incident, but I managed to save him for the most part. This time there was no 'saving' him, or even apologizing. I scared the crap out of him and left him as a whimpering wreck.

Some hero I was indeed.

Mom looked over at me with a suspicious gaze, "Okay, what's bugging you Jack?" she asked me.

I blinked and looked at her, "Huh?" I said stupidly.

"Something's bugging you." Mom repeated, "You don't normally get this broody unless something's on your mind. So what is it?"

I blushed a little, realizing that Mom was right. I was brooding. I just didn't know it was that noticeable when I did it. Guess I just sort of assumed that Mom was too busy to focus on me. Wrong again Darby. And there wasn't any point in lying to her, I was a horrible liar. Horrible at telling the truth too, well when it came to secrets anyway. Best to just fess up to Mom about what I did and face her wrath.

Mom came to a stop at an intersection and looked over at me, "So, what is it?"

I sighed and leaned back in my seat, "I used the Watch in school today." I admitted.

"You did what?" Mom demanded, her eyebrows knit into a stern scowl. The 'serious face'. God help me.

"I didn't cheat on a test or anything, I swear!" I immediately defended myself. Moms expression softened, but only a little.

"What did you do?" she asked me.

I looked down at the Watch and let out a sigh, "Vince was being a jerk on the field trip as usual. I just got sick of putting up with his crap and… Well, I went Ghostfreak on him. And that was a horrible idea. I terrified him and the guy was a whimpering wreck the rest of the trip. I just wanted to give him a good scare…"

Why was it whenever I had a certain intention, it always failed horribly and the consequences where incredibly disproportionate to the actual action? Meeting the Autobots, the race, finding the Watch. Seems I get some bad luck in the department of 'not getting utterly screwed over by life'.

Mom let out a sad sigh and put her hand on my shoulder, "Jack-"

The ground suddenly shook and we both looked up in shock, or in Mom's case, worried, "Oh please not another one…" she murmured.

I looked around the area to see if there were any pedestrians nearby or cars behind us. I seemed in the clear and activated the Watch, selecting Heatblast this time. If it was another giant Drone, I intended on frying it before it caused any real damage. The ground shook again though, followed by some crashing from down the street.

Mom and I exchanged looks, and promptly abandoned the car. We ran around the corner down Main Street. Most stores and places of business (Including the K.O Burger) where located there. The Mall, or Jasper's equivalent, was at the far end of the street, and the entire front entrance had been blown open. There was a sound of crashing and screaming emanating from the building, followed by a very non human series of roars and growls.

"Jack…" Mom said.

I looked at the Watch, "I know, I know. Hero Time." I shifted the dial from Heatblast to Diamondhead and slammed it down.

In a flash of green light, I was once again the giant diamond alien. I rolled my shoulders for a moment, getting a feel for the form, before looking down at Mom, "Find and evacuate the Civilians. I'll figure out what all the hubbub is about."

Mom nodded and the two of us split up. I ran straight for the Mall and entered through the now destroyed entrance. I saw her enter behind me and start helping civilians. I kept following the path of destruction though, feeling the Earth occasionally shake beneath my feet. I had no idea what was causing it, but the swathe of destruction told me it was big.

The tiled floors had been gouged out and many chairs and vending machines where either shoved to the side, in pieces, or utterly crushed underfoot. Sometimes all three.

After a few minutes of searching though, I finally found my target in a local Radioshack. And I'll have to admit, I wasn't quite expecting what I saw. I had expected a giant robot of some kind, maybe a Decepticon gone rogue or something at most.

"…There are no words…" I stared up at the rear of what appeared to be a giant wingless Dragon. It was covered in thick spiky armor with large claws feet and a massively spiked tail that lashed back and forth. I made sure to give it a wide berth. Made of diamond or not, I didn't want to get hit with that thing.

The dragon creature wasn't even the weirdest part though. The weird part was its _rider_,who looked familiar for some reason. He was a slightly overweight man in a greasy tanktop with sickly yellow skin, long unclean white hair, and wore what looked like a giant bug costume, complete with oversized goggles and massive antlers ejecting from his helmet.

I rubbed my head in confusion, "Okay…wasn't expecting this when I woke up this morning." I admitted. Giant robots and shape shifting sentient watches I could handle. This I could not.

But no matter how bizarre the situation was, the 'dragon' and its master where still causing general chaos and pandemonium. Something I couldn't really allow to continue.

I cleared my throat and tried my best to look heroic, hands on my hips chest puffed out and everything. It wouldn't work with all my forms for sure, but with Diamondhead he pulled it off perfectly.

"Hey!" I called. The 'dragon' froze and turned around with its rider peering at me curiously. In the lizards mouth was an extensive collection of various electronic devices that I couldn't hope to name. But again, not important.

I pointed an accusing crystalline finger at criminal, "Get off your giant…lizard, and put your hands up." I ordered.

The man glared at me, "Who are you to order me!? The great, Dr. Animo!?" he demanded in a high pitched voice.

"Why does that sound so familiar?" I muttered, before focusing on Animo, "Just consider me your friendly neighborhood alien hero. Now I'll say it again. Get off the lizard, or things will get ugly."

I held up my left hand and felt a familiar tingling sensation. The fingers and skin groaned and creaked before slowly forming up into a large crystalline spear/sword where my hand used to be. Its edge gleamed in the light, and I knew it could cut through steel with ease.

Animo just laughed and peered down at me, "Big talk from such an insignificant worm!" he patted the Lizards head and stood up, "Deal with him, my pet. I will return momentarily.

He hopped off the Lizard and started walking away, "Hey!" I called and started after him, "You can't just-"

The 'dragon' charged me, knocking me off my feet mid sentence and sending me careening into the nearest jewelry store. I crashed through the store entrance into a counter full of diamond earrings and normal rings. A few civilians that had been hiding in there went running for cover.

I groaned and stood up, brushing the jewelry off me, "I feel like there's a sense of irony to this," I plucked a diamond ring off my shoulder and flicked it away.

The lizard shoved its massive spiked head through the hole I'd made and started snapping at me, "But for the life of me, I can't figure it out!" I yelled, and jumped back, slashing my arm through the air.

A pointless gesture as a human. But one thing I learned from Diamondhead was that not only could he form parts of his body into weapons of a sort, but that he could also fling parts of his body as a near indestructible weapon. I'd yet to find a material it wouldn't pierce to some degree, and so I unleashed a barrage at the fanged beast trying to add me to its diet.

I heard a series of satisfying 'thunk, thunk, thunk, thunks', followed by a roar of pain from lizard, which retracted its head and reared back. Seeing my chance, I let out a battle cry and charged forward, slamming into the beast with all my might. A seven hundred pound, eight foot tall humanoid diamond man apparently hit with a lot of force I learned. That or the lizard was lighter than I thought, as it went flying backwards across the mall and crashed on its back.

I dusted my hands off, "Well that was easy, now where's Animo?" I wondered aloud.

The good Doctor had all but vanished, and I began looking around for the man. I didn't figure out where he was until I heard a loud electric _'Zap!'_ , and a bright red light flashed through the mall from the pet store. Of course.

I ran towards the building, a place called _'Smart Pets' _with a big large dog on its logo, in time to see what Animo had done. He was standing by several now empty cages, and I could see why they were empty. Because now he had added two more dangerous animal monsters to his roster.

One of them looked like it had once been a parrot of some kind. It was now the sign of a large car, with massive ragged feathers and a serrated beak. Its talons were sharp and long, ending in vicious looking points. It had blood red eyes and its feathery coat was actually astounding to look at, where it not for how deadly it looked.

The other animal though worried me more. It wasn't a bird, it was a giant _snake_. A snake that was easily as thick around as a tree and covered in scales that were easily three or four inches thick. It was about fifty or so feet long, and about ten feet from its head, the head split off into _two _heads, which raised themselves up and hissed at me.

Like the parrot and lizard, they also had blood red eyes and their mouths where filled with fangs, along with two very long ones. And then their hoods opened up wide to reveal that they were a Cobra… Who the hell sells a Cobra at a pet store!?

Dr. Animo stood between them with a large grin on his face, "Behold, the power of my transmodulator! With it, I can modify propel any creature to its next evolutionary step!"

I looked at the giant and dangerous looking animals, "I somehow don't think that this is how evolution works man…"

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand." Animo snarled back, then turned to his animals, "Destroy him my pets. And bring my his head!"

The parrot and two headed Cobra (Seriously, what store!?) squawked and hissed. Then they turned their red eyes on my. Uh oh.

Animo watched with amusement as I both animals charged at me. The parrot was smaller than the snake and therefore maneuvered the destroyed petshop with ease. I shifted my hands into blades and slashed at the bird, but its many thick feathers managed to keep the blow from being fatal. The bird fluttered back in time for the snake to catch up and spit sickly looking yellow

I jumped back with a yelp and saw the liquid hit the floor, which it promptly started to melt through, "Acid!? It spits acid!?"

The two large animals started circling me and I quickly went onto the defensive. Animo let out a crazed laugh and approached the giant lizard, which had finally gotten back to its feet, and gave me a mock salute, "Enjoy your meal, my pets. I have work to do!" he announced, and the lizard loped forward out of the entrance it made.

"No!" I immediately tried to run after him, only for to feel something tie around my ankle and yank my legs out from under me.

I landed face first on the floor, shattering a few tiles, and found myself lifted up off the ground where I swayed back and forth. I saw the two headed cobra hissing at me angrily, a disgusting yellow foam dripping out the corners of both its mouths.

Not wanting to be snake chow, I pointed my arm at the snake and fired off a few diamond hard rounds at it. Most missed given my position, but a few struck the left head in the neck, and one hit the right head in the eye, immediately blinding it while blood trickled from its wounds. The snake hissed and released me for a moment.

I managed to land on my feet and roll forward in time for the parrot to come screeching down and scraping my arm with its talons. Sparks flew and I was knocked back, but I managed to remain standing despite the impact. I shifted my arms to blades and tracked the parrot as it tried to gain an altitude in the low space environment.

But being in a small mall, I had the advantage. I pointed both my arms at the creature and fired a barrage of shining green diamonds at the bird. I filled the air with them, and the bird went down in a matter of seconds. Its body was littered with diamonds and it hit the floor with a sickening crack. Blood trickled from its many wounds, and it twitched once before going limp.

"Really, this isn't fair." I muttered, and looked around for the snake. Which had vanished during the commotion.

My eye twitched, "Seriously!? Come on!" how did something that big disappear without attracting any attention?

Apparently it didn't, as a few people screamed in terror farther into the mall. The snake had apparently thought they'd make good snacks. I clenched my hands and ran off into the ruined store towards the closest scream. It only took a few moments to reach the source of the screaming, and I came upon a terrifying sight.

Without Animo keeping control over them, the snake had gone completely feral it seemed. It was towering over a small family of three, a father, mother, and their daughter, who where cowering in fear. The cobra had wrapped its entire body around the group, keeping them from fleeing in any direction. Its twin blody heads where hissing angrily at them, acid dripping from its lips.

The mother was holding her daughter tight, stroking her hair and trying to calm her down. The father was standing in front of them both protectively, but at most he'd make a decent snack for the monster before it devoured the other two. Something I had no intention of allowing.

I threw a shard of diamond between the snake and the family, making the former recoil in shock. Its unblinking eyes then turned to me it and it hissed angrily. Strangely enough, I wasn't as intimidated this time.

I stood there with my arms shifted into large blades and glared at the cobra, "Stay away from the civilians, you monster." I ordered.

The snake hissed at me and slithered forward at me rather quickly. I sidestepped it as it tried snapping at me. For some reason I was feeling eerily calm about this whole situation. Everything felt slow moving around me. But I wasn't moving as slow. No idea why.

It lashed out at me again, and this time I ducked under its head and stabbed upward. I felt its scales resist my arm for a moment, before they gave way and blood spilled out of the creatures neck. The snake screamed in agony and whipped about, its tail lashing around and hitting me in the side.

I crashed through a nearby booth and collided with the wall and slid to the ground. The Dial started flashing red, but it didn't really matter. The snake let out a pained hiss and fell on its side where it slowly bled out. There was a flash of red light and I reverted to human form and stayed that way.

"Take that…" I grumbled, feeling dead tired. I think it was the adrenaline rush. I felt similar after beating the drone, and even though I only changed once, these things had tossed me around just as often. Fun.

I lay there for a minute or two, just resting for a moment. I looked at the distant hole in the mall and saw my Mother looking around with a nervous expression on her face. Obviously she was looking for me.

I raised my hand, "Mom!" I called.

Her head whipped towards me with rapid precision, and I slowly stood up while she ran towards me as fast as she could. I barely got up in time before she slammed into me with a worried hug.

"Oh god Jack, are you alright!?"

"I'm fine Mom." I grumbled, and separated from her hug, "I lost the guy who did this though. Some wack job called Dr. Animo."

Mom shook her head, "You should be thankful you're okay."

I let out a sad laugh, "I was in Diamondhead form Mom. I was fine."

She gave me a suspicious look before looking at the dead two headed Cobra, "So the snake was with him?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh." Mom shuddered, "Hate snakes. Where'd the psycho go?"

I shook my head, "No idea. He left his 'pets' to fight me and ran off. Said he had…work to do…"

Immediately I slapped my forehead, "Idiot!" and I ran for the entrance with Mom trailing behind me.

"Jack, what are you doing!?"

"I know who this guy is Mom! And I know where he's going! I'll meet up with you later!" I promised, and checked to see if the Watch was active. It was.

I pressed the dial and quickly looked through the various forms. A faster form was needed for this, something a with a bit more speed. I immediately settled on a lean looking form and slammed the dial down.

Green light engulfed me and I went blind for a moment. My skin turned a dark blue, and my legs shifted into digitgraded limbs, with three-toed feet resting on large black spheres. A long blue and black striped tail sprouted from my rear and my hands shifted into three fingered claws that sealed shut together. My skull elongated into an aerodynamic helmet esque shape.

My vision returned and I looked to see the form of XLR8 that I had assumed. A black leotard with the arms exposed and a dark blue stripe running down the center. I wore a black helmet with an angular blue face and blue-green eyes. A few lines ran down from my eyes and lips, and a mask shut over my face a moment later.

"Alright Animo." I rasped in XLR8's typical fast talking voice, "Time to pull the plug on your experiment."

I then took off like a bullet down the road. I didn't know what Animo was planning, but I knew he had to be stopped. I might have abused my powers once, but I wasn't going to do it again, that was certain…

**A/N: So, I decided to split this into two chapters when it took me three days to write this one. I'll likely finish the Animo trilogy hear, and then I might move onto a different story for a time. But one thing I need to say first to a certain guest known as KnownCoyote5. If you ask me to update a certain story one more time, I will personally shut off all anonymous reviews for my stories. I don't care if no one else abuses them, but stop asking questions when you KNOW I won't answer them!**

***Sigh* Moving on, I hope you guys liked the chapter. Let me know what you thought in the reviews, and remember to review with critique and PM with questions.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:Naked Heroics

_Jasper Nevada, Jack's POV…_

I was a blur racing through the streets of Jasper, a streak of black and blue that was way too fast for the human eye to track. The entire town zoomed by me faster than I had ever gone before. Every building I passed was distorted into a smudgy mess of browns and grays, with no distinct structure or form.

XLR8, the alien form I had taken, was easily the fastest thing on two legs. Mom and I had no idea what his top speed was, but what I did know was this. Next to Heatblast and Diamondhead, he was easily my favorite alien form.

Remember how I said Arcee and I enjoyed riding together? That the feeling of speeding through the air was exhilarating and exciting? Well as XLR8, that feeling was magnified by a factor of 10. With his crazy speed, I easily could leave Arcee behind in the dust without even breaking a sweat.

Which is why he made the perfect alien for chasing down Doctor Animo. The good doctor had gotten a big head start on me, but that didn't mean he was particularly hard to track. I already had a pretty good idea of where he was heading, but even if I hadn't, his giant pet lizard meant that tracking him down was way too easy.

Might as well have left a giant sign that said 'man eating lizard and nut job scientist this way'. It was that obvious. Big gashes where left in the sidewalk and street, cars were overturned and every other mailbox had a big bite out of it. Not exactly sure why, but I wasn't complaining.

To my utter relief, I also noted that the civilians seemed to be unharmed. Animo either was in too much of a hurry to cause any more chaos than necessary, or simply didn't care for causing chaos. Again, I wasn't sure why but I didn't really complain about it. If Animo wasn't hurting civilians, I was fine with that.

I just kept on running through town, briefly passing by the local police station. I could see several cops heading into their cruisers, many of them with grim looks on their faces. They were heading to the mall, no doubt because someone called them. There was only one problem though…

I put the brakes on hard, and came to a dead stop in front of the policemen. They gawked at me, but I ignored it and retracted my mask, "Just a quick heads up, the guy you're looking for is that way, heading for the local museum." I pointed a three clawed finger in the direction of the museum.

The cops continued staring at me, and I nearly sighed. I looked way to alien for them to take seriously. They probably hadn't even heard what I said. Just wore those utterly shocked expressions on their faces. I figured I'd just wasted valuable time warning them, when one of the cops spoke up.

Raf's father, Miguel, "Alright, you heard the raptor!" he yelled.

_'Raptor?' _I thought with a snicker.

The other cops looked to Miguel in surprise, "Get your rears in gear, we've got a job to do. Move, move, move!"

That shook them from their stupor and the Force resumed their preparations. Miguel spared a look at me, pausing at the dial on my chest. Our eyes locked and he gave a small nod of thanks. I silently returned it, gave a short salute, and sped off after Animo again.

In all honesty, I'm not sure why I stopped to warn the cops about where Animo was heading. Perhaps a small part of me realized that this was technically a job for the police. So if they knew where to head, they could definitely do their jobs. But I think it was more because I wasn't sure if I could take on Animo alone _and _keep any innocent bystanders safe.

I hadn't at the mall, and that had let Animo get away. But if the police were also at the scene, they could evacuate and civilians that might get hurt and buy me the time I'd need to bring Animo and his bizarre biology experiments down. All without worrying about who might get hurt in the process.

I hurried on my way to the local museum and saw it slowly appearing in the distance. Inwardly, I smirked. I had made what was normally a 45 minute drive into a 5 minute run. That was some pretty good timing.

The museum soon loomed over me, and I saw bits of Animo's handiwork all around the museum. Destroyed cars, bits and pieces of lamppost that had been torn out of the ground, and the museum entrance itself was nothing but shattered glass. There was a suspiciously large lizard size hole in the entrance that pretty much confirmed my thoughts.

Animo had come to the museum to finish the device that let him turn animals into monsters. I just really hoped that I wasn't too late and could stop him before he caused too much trouble…

_3rd Person POV…_

The museum was a disaster zone.

The spacious front lobby was left in pieces, with shattered glass practically coating the floor, while many front exhibits lay on their sides in pieces. Bits of blood where scattered through the room and large claw marks covered the walls and white tile floors.

The chaotic mess was not limited to the lobby though. Many hallways where torn to shreds, with large bloody gashes cut straight into them. All of them leading towards the back of the museum where most of the staff worked. The door to the area had been torn off its hinges, and Animo stood before it with a massive grin on his face. The museum curator lay on the floor behind the destroyed door frame with a terrified expression on his face.

His lizard pet stood next to him with part of a security guard's leg sticking out of its mouth. In a flash of black, the leg vanished down its gullet and the creature let out a hiss at the curator. Jonathon cowered in fear and Animo let out a laugh.

"My research no longer seems like such a 'pipe dream' now, does it Jonathon?" Animo sneered rather spectacularly, still laughing madly at the same time.

Jonathon trembled, "P-pl-please, don't hu-hurt me…" he whimpered, his scared eyes never leaving the blood red eyes of the mutated lizard.

Animo pat the creature on the snout and turned back towards Jon, "I'm not going to hurt you Jonathon, not yet. You are the only one that knows where it is. Where the research I left behind is. Take me to it, and I might just let you live."

A bead of sweat rolled down Jon's forehead while he trembled silently. The lizard hissed and he let out a terrified squeak, "Okay! I'll take you to it!"

Animo smirked, revealing rows of unkempt and gnarly looking teeth, "Excellent, lead the way."

Jon got to his feet, his knees shaking like crazy, and did just that. Animo looked back at his pet lizard, "Watch and make sure we get no more visitors from any 'alien heroes'." he ordered.

The lizard growled in response and turned around, walking back towards the entrance of the museum. Animo chuckled as it went and fulfilled his orders to the letter. He'd like to see that alien diamond try and get through that…

_Jack's POV…_

I came speeding into the museum entrance without breaking a sweat, the broken glass and torn floors hardly even slowing me down. I was just too fast for them to leave a lasting impact on me. However, I wasn't immune to bigger things, like walls, trees, or… a giant ten foot tall mutated lizard lumbering down the museum hallway.

Once more I came to a dead stop and my visor flicked open. The lizard stopped and stared at me, and I did the same. It didn't seem to recognize me at first, which was a relief. XLR8 was fast for sure, but he couldn't really take much of a beating…

"Um… hi, lizard thing…" I rasped, really hoping it wasn't going to be aggressive.

The lizard took one sniff in the air, and its pupils suddenly dilated. Oh that wasn't good.

It let out an angry hiss and lunged forwards towards me with its jaw wide open. But in XLR8's form, the attack that normally would be considered lightning fast, seemed to be moving in slow motion for me. I smirked a little and the visor slid shut over my face. Without even shifting my position, I sidestepped the attack.

The lizard snapped at empty air and looked confused. My visor retracted again and I chuckled, "Almost had me there scales."

That got an angry growl out of the beast and it lunged at me with one of its claws. I zoomed around its side and it swiped at air, "Over here!" I taunted.

It hissed and lunged at me, trying to get me under its claws. I just backpedaled away with ease, standing just outside of its reach, "Oh come on," I made a 'tsk tsk tsk sound' at it, "You were doing so much better earlier!"

Another hiss and the lizard practically sprinted towards me, "Uh oh." I yelped, and zoomed out of the way. The lizard definitely wasn't fast as me, but it was still pretty damn fast. I realized that taunting it was definitely not the best idea.

But XLR8 also wasn't great for fighting something like this. Sure he could move fast enough to cause considerable damage, but this thing had shrugged off diamonds being flung into its hide. I had a feeling some really fast punches and kicks weren't going to do squat against a ten foot tall lizard covered in bony scales.

So instead, I went for a slightly different route. I just kept out of the creatures reach and lead it on a chase through the museum. I zoomed into the World War I exhibit and went flying up the wing of a biplane hanging from the ceiling.

The lizard came bounding into the room a little too fast, only realizing this when its claws failed to slow it down in time and it started skidding across the floor. It crashed into a display case full of World War I uniforms and sent the mannequins flying while the case was stuck onto its horned head.

I stood at the top of the plane and chuckled, "For a giant lizard, you sure aren't that bright are you?"

And of course, wouldn't you know it, the dial started beeping and flashing red. My eyes went wide and I looked down at my chest in time to be engulfed in red light. I was returned to my human form… which happened to be on top of a biplane hanging a good fifteen feet above the ground at an angle. I was at the top of one wing, and quickly felt my feet start slipping on the smooth edge of the wing.

"Scrap!" they slipped out from under me and I fell flat on my back.

The lizard heard my yell and jerked its head up in my general direction. The case on its head went flying through the air and crashed into a nearby wall. It's eyes immediately settled on me and I yelled again, digging my hands into the wings surface. To my surprise, the wings skin wasn't made of metal like I thought.

Turns out old biplanes used painted cloth for their skin instead. So I actually managed to get a slight handhold between my fingers. That was the good news anyway. The bad news was that I was dangling stomach first off the edge of a biplane… and there was an angry, and possibly hungry, giant lizard prowling below me.

I struggled to pull myself back up onto the wing and cursed, "I knew I shouldn't have skipped out on gym." I growled angrily.

I spared a peak over my shoulder at the giant lizard down below and paled. It was standing directly below me, with its piercing red eyes staring at me. Not a muscle on its body moved, and it just stood there… silently watching me. Now that I wasn't in Diamondhead's form, or XLR8, I could truly 'appreciate' how massive and dangerous the lizard was…

It continued to watch me silently and unmoving. It's tail twitched and that was the only warning I got. It lunged upwards and I yelled, pulling my legs up just in time. I felt the creatures rancid breath brush against me and its jaws snapped at empty air. It fell back to the ground with a heavy thud, shaking the museum.

My perch shook dangerously under me, and I frantically tightened my grip. I kicked my legs up and fought for a purchase, but painted cloth isn't easy to get a foothold on. My sneakers slipped on the smooth underside of the wing and I failed to get a purchase.

And then, to make matters worse, I felt the cloth lose its tension. Followed by a very chilling ripping sound. I looked back up at the wing to see part of the cloth was starting to tear under my grip. Down below, the lizard leaped up again and snapped at my rear. It missed, but I felt the wind brush against me.

"Oh this is not good…" I groaned. There was another tear and I sank lower.

Realizing I didn't have a lot of time left, I frantically looked at the watch. It was still glowing a dark red- no, it was green!

"Yes!" I yelled, and released my right hand… Right as I felt the lizards teeth find purchase on me. Or rather, my clothes. There was a ripping sound and I winced.

The lizard hit the floor with my shirt and pants in its clutches. I shivered under at how breezy it suddenly was, "Okay, time to change!" I said quickly, and activated the watch.

The biplane's cloth skin suddenly gave way, right as I started turning the dial. The lizard opened its jaws wide while I fell back towards it. Realizing I didn't have a lot of options, I blindly hit the dial down.

There was a bright flash of light, and the lizard suddenly found a giant red alien body slamming it's mouth into the ground. I wrapped all four of my arms around its muzzle and hit the ground with a heavy thud, feeling my alien feet crush the tiles underfoot. Secretly, I let out a sigh of relief when I realized I was wearing clothes again.

Not very heroic if you're fighting giant dragon like lizards without pants.

"Alright big guy," I wrenched its head up and punched it across the exhibit.

It went crashing through a battle scene and hit the far wall, landing on its belly with a loud and painful 'slap'. I looked at where my pants had landed and picked my phone out of the shredded remains, kicking the rest away.

I handed the phone off to my lower right arm and grumbled to myself, "That's just embarrassing. Getting my pants torn off by a giant lizard."

Said giant lizard was getting back to its claws and glaring at me with all the hate a lizard could muster. It was quite a lot all things considered. I didn't really care though, since I was now a ten foot tall, four hundred pound alien made of pure muscle. Suddenly that lizard didn't look all that intimidating.

I started walking through the wrecked exhibits towards the lizard, "Alright big guy, let's try this again." I cracked the knuckles on my hands, and then cracked my neck.

The lizard hissed at me and charged, its claws scrabbling against the floor. I let out my own battle cry and we charged at each other. Now, here's where things are a little weird because I'll admit… When I get into the heat of a battle as Four Arms, it's a bit hard for me to remember things.

My vision just goes red and I only remember things in bits and pieces. The longer a fight goes on, the more coherent I get, but those first few minutes of a fight are… exhilarating. I've yet to find a way to keep myself under control during those moments.

With that said, all I remember of our fight was a few key details. A lot of biting from the lizards, punching it through a World War II exhibit and destroying a replica Sherman tank with its head. The usual stuff. There were a few weird moments too.

Like for some reason, there was a moment I remember where I was suddenly using the disembodied leg of Hitler to beat the ever loving crap out of the lizard.

Like I said, weird.

Either way, I started becoming coherent right as I came tumbling through one of the museum walls with the lizard's neck gripped in a headlock. We landed in the ancient animals exhibit (Yes I know it has a different name, but that's not important) and broke apart. I blinked a few times and shook my head as my senses seemed to return to me.

And when they did, I swayed back and forth a few times, rubbing my red scalp with a bewildered expression, "Ugh…what happened?" I moaned.

The lizard struggled to get to its feet, only for them to give out and it fell on the floor unconscious. I blinked in surprise, "…Seriously…what happened?"

I looked around at the exhibit and saw it had a sort of time theme to it. Creatures from the Ice Age where kept at the front while things like the T-Rex skeleton where kept near the back of the exhibit. With a scowl I looked from the T-Rex to the front of the exhibit.

And it was there I saw a familiar man who looked far too much like a bug for his own good. He was standing by a large exhibit with skeletal Saber Cats positioned in attack forms. I scowled and started forward, noticing how his device was slightly open and he was messing with an internal component.

"That's enough Animo." I growled, "Your pet's out for the count, now come quietly before I make you come."

Animo smirked and shut his device shut, "Ignorant fool! I am on the edge of a scientific break through the likes of which the world has never known! Observe, phase two! The reanimation of dead tissue!"

He rotated the device on his stomach and red energy arched across the horns on his helmet. It then shot across towards the two Saber Cat skeletons. I stopped dead in my tracks, all four eyes widening in shock and a little bit of disgust.

The skeletons shuddered and shook, dust falling from their bones as if they were coming alive. And then, to my revulsion, new flesh started wrapping itself around the bones. Muscle, veins, internal organs all formed over the skeletal cats, and soon enough skin and fur finished the process.

The red light died down and I saw two large saber tooth tigers standing on the exhibit and growling at me. Animo had… resurrected an extinct animal. Well, not exactly actually. Bits of their flesh where still missing, with stark white bone plainly visible where flesh once was. They're eyes were also glowing pure red, just like the other animals Animo had turned.

These weren't actual saber tooth tigers. They where abominations created by a madman who wanted to play god. My hands tightened and I scowled at the 'good' doctor, "This is your plan? Create undead animals that only listen to your command? You're not a scientist, you're a criminal with a Phd."

"How dare you!" Animo sneered at me, "My discovery will change the world! The name 'Animo' will go down in history as the name of the man who defeated God!"

I shook my head, "Pretty sure God doesn't dress like that, nutjob."

The man glared at me behind his goggles before grinning, "Your opinion matters not." he admitted, and turned to the two saber cats, "Deal with him, my pets." he ordered.

The two tigers growled in acknowledgement, before turning to me. They started crawling along the edge of their exhibit, before hopping out and stalking towards me. One jumped into the exhibit of an ancient sloth… thing, and perched itself on the manmade sculpture,. It growled at me, exposing even more sharp fangs to go with the two massive ones that refused to fit in its mouth.

I took a step back from that exhibit, before seeing the other one circling around me to try and flank me. I looked between the two tigers with a frustrated expression on my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Animo scurry past me towards the T-Rex skeleton.

"Oh no you don't!" I yelled, and started to chase after him.

That set both tigers off. The one flanking me lunged in front of me, blocking Animo from me. The other lunged at me and dug its claws deep into my back. I let out a pained yell and grabbed at the tiger on my back with one of my free hands. The other tiger let out a roar and lunged at me as well with its claws extended.

My other hand shot out and wrapped around its throat, holding it tightly in place. I managed to grab a fistful of fur on the other tiger and wrenched it off my back. It's claws tore at my back and I winced, feeling a bit of blood dripping from my wounds. I ignored them though, and threw both tigers into the nearest exhibit.

The mammoth exhibit.

One was instantly impaled on the sculptures tusk and died instantly. The other hit its massive wooly legs and it fell to the floor. I saw my chance and turned towards Animo. I saw him standing in front of the T-Rex skeleton and cursed. Without breaking a sweat, I sprinted towards him…

Right as red light shot from his helmet and hit the skeleton. Animo let out an insane cackle while I ran up right behind him… And the skeleton?

It remained completely unchanged, even when the light faded. Both Animo and I stared at in shock, with the good doctor removing his goggles and looking at his device, "What? But how…"

My mind suddenly clicked and I laughed, "It's a fake! Ha! Just a phony meant to attract visitors!"

Animo blinked in surprise and looked back up, "B-but I thought it was… they said it was… oh dear…"

He suddenly realized that there was a very tall four armed and muscled alien standing over him… And Animo was a five something overweight out of shape scientist. I smiled down at him.

"Night night, doc." I said, and proceeded to clonk him over the head with my fist. He immediately fell unconscious onto the ground.

I ripped his device off and crushed it in my hand. The two saber tooth tigers started glowing red, before suddenly freezing in place. Their flesh vanished and two skeletons stood in place where they'd been. The unconscious lizard shrank back down to a normal bearded dragon that looked up at me innocently.

"Well, that was unexpected." I chuckled, and grabbed Animo by the shirt. A moment later, I had him tied to the wall with a piece of steel piping I'd torn out of the railing that lined the exhibits.

And with Animo taken care of, I brushed my hands off and started for the exit. The museum was a wreck now, with most of the exhibits destroyed. I was a little guilty about that, but I reasoned that since I prevented Animo from creating an army of undead dinosaurs, that it was more than worth the damage. The whole situation really could have been much worse in hindsight.

I exited the museum and covered my eyes for a moment until they adjusted to the sun. The parking lot was abandoned now, except for one car. Mom's red sedan, with Mom herself leaning against the hood nervously chewing on her bottom lip.

When she saw me, she looked utterly relieved, "Jack!" she cried, and ran towards me.

I walked up to her and let out a tired chuckle, "Hey mom." I grunted, tussling her hair. It was weird being taller than her.

"I heard the combat from out here, it was just… are you alright?" she asked, wiping at a few nervous tears.

The two of us reached her car and I smiled, "I'm fine. Have you seen the cops yet?"

"No, why?" Mom asked.

I shook my head, "Doesn't matter… Say, you got some extra blankets in your car?"

Mom blinked at me, "Um… yeah, why?"

I chuckled nervously, "Well, um…"

And then the dial started to beep, "Oh come on!" I yelled, right as there was a flash of red…

Suddenly things where a lot bigger than before and I stood in the parking lot clad only in my sneakers and bright, _bright_, red. Mom's jaw dropped while I covered myself and continued to turn red. Then Mom started laughing while covering her eyes.

"I'll get a blanket." she laughed, walking to the trunk of the car.

"Yeah, thanks…" I grumbled, shivering. Why did it have to be the middle of winter!? It was like, 68 degree's out! Fragging freezing!

Thankfully, Mom tossed my a blanket from the trunk and I quickly covered myself before jumping into the car. Mom giggled and got in after me, starting the car up. I sat there silently, my face burning red.

"So…" Mom started, as she began driving out of the parking lot.

"Not a word." I ordered.

She smiled, "Alright, alright. Fair enough."

I let out a relieved sigh and let my head fall back, "Let me just put it like this. I need more practice with my alien forms, okay?"

Her smile never faded, but a twinkle of inspiration flashed in her eye, "I think I can help you with that…" she admitted.

I gave her a look, but didn't say anything. Right now, ignoring the whole 'stripped naked by an iguana with a bad attitude', I'd say it had been a pretty good thing, everything considered. It seemed that I was at least starting to get the hang of this super hero business...

**A/N: And so, 10 Kinds of Trouble is back! This was an odd one to write for me, but I was glad to come back to it. I needed a break from the AToA Reboot, and this was the perfect way to do it. OH! Quick announcement, I have a poll on my profile for possible halloween stories. I know a good chunk of my readers ignore the reboot (Why, I don't know. The original book 3 isn't going to be updated for a **_**long **_**time, and is non-canon now.) so I'll say it again. There are three choices on the poll, Danny Phantom, Prototype, and a TFP/Splatterhouse crossover. The first two are purely in their own fandom, no transformers. Vote on which one you want to see, and PM me if you want to know more about them. And if you're a guest that wants to know…**

**Get an account. Seriously, I'm not answering questions from guests.**

**But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and please remember to leave reviews letting me know how it was, and PM me with possible questions and ideas.**

**Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Hunt Begins

_Darby Residence, Jack POV…_

We got back home about half an hour after I had taken down Animo. The moment mom pulled into the garage, I had scurried into the house and spent about ten minutes showering. During the drive, I had discovered that some of the injuries I received while in alien form would transfer over to me when I turned human again.

The Sabertooth Tigers had left some nasty claw marks on my back when I was Four Arms. When I showered, I found that the I had several faint cuts along my back. Nothing serious, just a few thin scratches that hurt like the devil when I showered. Hence the ten minute shower.

But after that, I came back into my room to find several sets of clothes on my bed. Not all of them where ones I normally had. A few looked brand new, like mom had been out shopping while I was tangling with Animo's lizard friend.

I poked my head out the door, "Mom! Did you go shopping today!?"

"Yeah!" she called from the kitchen, "After the Mall incident, I bought some clothes for you. You've needed some for a _long _time."

I looked back in my room at the pile of clothes and raised a brow, "How did you manage to buy clothes after the mall was wrecked… How did you buy clothes!?"

Mom giggled, "Trade secret!"

"…Of course it is." I sighed, and walked back in to see what she'd bought.

Most of it was just standard stuff. A few new jeans, some shirts, and a pack of new underwear. Fantastic. Seemed like pretty generic stuff.

I paused when I came to something different, "What…?"

And then I slapped my forehead, "Mom!"

I stuck my head back out the door to see her smiling innocently at me, "What's the matter?"

Without saying a word, I held up one of the 'items' she purchased. It was a dark blue leather riding jacket, with a grey stripe down the right side with a number ten emblem over the stripe at about chest level. When Mom saw the jacket, she smiled at me innocently.

"What, you don't like it?"

My response was a deadpan look, "Are you _trying _to announce to everyone that I'm the aliens out there?"

She shook her head while smiling, "I don't think anyone would make the connection Jack. Besides…"

Mom gestured at my wrist, where the watch rested comfortably. I let out an embarrassed cough, "Yeah, b-but still! It's a bit cheesy!"

"Every hero needs a uniform." she shrugged, walking back to the kitchen.

I lowered the jacket and stared at it for a moment. It wasn't a bad design, just… a bit obvious. I let out a sigh and ducked back into my room, changing into a new set of clothes. Hopefully, they wouldn't get torn off by a giant mutant lizard dragon this time.

After getting dressed, I looked at myself in the mirror for a moment. Blue jeans, standard sneakers, a dark grey T-shirt, and… the jacket. All together, it looked very nice, and the leather of the jacket was soft and new. Even had that fresh leather smell.

Happy with my new look, I stepped out of my room and walked into the kitchen, "So, how do I look?" I asked, holding my arms out.

Mom stopped from dinner and looked me over, "Not bad. I see you decided to go with the jacket after all."

"…Yeah…" I admitted sheepishly.

"Good, glad you like it." Mom smiled and returned to the stove.

I walked over and looked at the… thing she was cooking over her shoulder, "Um… what's for dinner?" I asked.

"You'll see." Mom promised. Subconsciously, I shuddered. When Mom said that, it was almost always guaranteed to suck.

She suddenly began shooing me away with her free hand, "Now go sit down at the table. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"Alright, I'm going." I raised my hands defensively and went to the dining room table. I got maybe two steps before there was a knock at the front door.

Mom and I froze and looked towards the front of the house. Then we looked at each other, "…I'll get it." I said.

I walked into the hall between the garage and kitchen that lead to the front door and opened said door. My eyes widened in surprise.

"Sh-sheriff!?" I squeaked in surprise.

Sheriff Miguel Esquivel stood at our front door, his police cruiser parked behind him alongside the street. He tipped his hat at me, "Evening Jack."

I blinked a few times in surprise, "Um… Evening officer…"

My mind was racing in shock. Why was the sheriff at my front door, had he heard about the street racing incident from a few months back, had he caught Arcee and I speeding, or… and this was probably the biggest worry, had he put two and two together to figure out that I was the aliens that had been helping out around town? I didn't think so, but if he'd seen me and mom pass by on our way home after I dealt with Animo…

Suddenly the new jacket felt a lot heavier…

"Jack, who is it?" I heard mom call from the kitchen.

"It-" my voice cracked and I coughed to clear it, "It's the sheriff."

She poked her head into the hall with wide eyes, "Oh! Miguel! How… nice to see you."

He nodded at mom, "Evening June."

Giving me a questioning look, Mom stepped into the hall. I just shrugged at her and tried to leave. Miguel grabbed my shoulder, "Hold on son, I'm actually here to talk to you."

I gulped nervously, "You…are?

Miguel nodded, "I am." and reached into his pocket.

For a brief moment, I tensed and reached for my wrist. Call it a reflex on instinct, but if Miguel was going to try and arrest me for vigilantism, I wasn't going to be taken in that easy. I had helped a lot of people with the watch. I wasn't going to be arrested just because one cop didn't like what I was doing!

"This yours?" my hand froze on my wrist and I blinked.

In Miguel's hand, was my cell phone, the screen scratched and the paint chipped away. But there was no mistaking it, that was my cell phone.

Subconsciously, my hand fell to my pocket where I normally kept my phone. And then I remembered that my phone had been in my other pants. The one that the giant mutant lizard had literally ripped off of me…

Oh scrap.

Miguel raised a brow when I didn't say anything, "So… it's not then? Because-"

"No, it is!" I said, and swiped the little piece of plastic from his hands, "W-we had a fieldtrip today at school, and I guess I left my phone in the museum… How'd you find it?"

"There was another incident with those…" Miguel narrowed his eyes, "…Creatures. We followed them to the local museum and found no sign of them. I did find this on the floor though. Guess it's your lucky day, huh?"

I gave a shaky, and nervous nod, "Y-yeah, I guess it is."

Mom walked up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. She gave me a reassuring look, before smiling at Miguel, "Thank you for bothering to bring this to us Miguel."

The sheriff smiled, "Don't mention it June, least I could do for you guys after everything that's happened."

For a brief moment I saw Mom's eyes darken, then it was over, "Yes, well thank you. You can get back to work now, Miguel."

"Of course, ma'am." he gave a nod and left, walking to his parked cruiser.

I gave Mom a look, and quickly realized why she was so hostile to Miguel. It was hard to remember that for a time, Mom had blamed Miguel for when Dad… well, passed away on duty. The whole mess was complicated honestly, but Mom had been very angry with Miguel for a time. Eventually she calmed down, but whenever it was brought up and the two were near each other…

Well, things got awkward.

Miguel stopped at his cruiser and looked at me, "Oh, and Jack! Nice jacket."

My eyes went wide while Miguel stepped into his cruiser and drove off, leaving me standing in the front door of my house, wide eyed. Did he really know, had he somehow managed to put two and two together? Or was it really just a compliment. I really wasn't sure…

And in hindsight, my freak out over Miguel was kind of pointless. If I'd known what was going on in orbit, my tune would've been very different…

_Earth Orbit, 3rd Person POV…_

High in orbit over Earth, the rust colored starship slowly drifted over Earth's surface. Its surface was without scratch, the battle damage it had suffered was long since repaired. A handful of the crab like repair drones scuttled over its hull to ensure the final remnants of damage were repaired.

But within the ship, the bridge itself was restored to full functionality. All terminals where in pristine condition, and many drone officers had been replaced with new ones that manned said terminals. In the center of the room, a large steel cylinder stood, with a small visor carved into it.

Within it, the Captain floated silently, his breath still weak and ragged; even after a week of repairs, his own injuries were far from recovering. In fact, he had only just begun to recover from the incident that had essentially left him crippled. And it infuriated him to no end. The greatest warlord in the galaxy, and a single well placed blast nearly killed him.

And now he was entirely dependent on mercenaries to retrieve the item of interest that he was searching for. It was demeaning, but necessary. Even he had to stoop low on occasion, no matter how much he hated it.

And stoop he did, as a large screen was projected on the far wall of the bridge. A large room was on display before the Captain, where two figures stood in the middle of the rusty area. Three mercenaries had responded to his contract, but only two had bothered to show up. The Captain was not waiting for the third, and so he wished to see which of these two would be the best choice and most deserving of the bounty.

The first to arrive was the infamous bounty hunter Six-Six. An alien of unspecified origin and race, Six-Six was renowned for the sheer number of weapons hidden within his pink and black armor. Though far from physically imposing, the hunter was deftly skilled with any form of weaponry and was a force to be reckoned with.

As if to add to this though, Six was a sadist. He enjoyed killing and made sure his targets suffered in the most painful ways imaginable, before inevitably vaporizing them. A problem for sure, but the Captain was confident that Six would obey his orders and bring back the target alive. It was amazing how easily individuals were swayed when paid sufficiently. And past experience showed him that Six only spoke one true language.

But while Six was a well known bounty hunter that had worked for the Captain several times in the past, the other was an enigma.

He towered a full head over Six-Six, and was built like a mountain with a thick torso and equally thick arms and legs. Grey and black matte armor covered him from head to toe, with a large series of metal plates slid over and concealing his real face. An upside down green triangle rested in the center of the helmet.

His file showed his name as Xartet Drahs.

The Captain had never heard of him, but that hardly mattered. He very rarely hired a bounty hunter without a trial by fire. Even those that had worked for him previously were not guaranteed a spot. The injured alien had no intent on simply sending two bounty hunters after the wielder of the Omnitirx without testing them both.

The wielder had shown him capable enough to destroy several bio-drones on his own. If these bounty hunters were capable of holding their own against said drones, then the Captain would consider sending one of them after him.

One the Captains officers suddenly turned to him, "The training floor is fully prepped sir. We merely await your orders."

He took in a shuddering raspy breath, "Relay my orders to them…"

The officer nodded and turned back to its terminal, working diligently. The Captain waited for a moment, before he heard the affirmative beep telling him he could speak to the bounty hunters waiting below.

For the bounty hunters, they saw part of the large fold away to reveal a large monitor with the Captains sickly face displayed on it, "You have both come for the bounty…" he rasped.

Several panels on the ceiling slid away, and a dozen circular bio-drones fell from the ceiling. Their weapons deployed and centered on Six-Six and Drahs. Six crouched to the side, while Drahs stared up at them motionless.

"Only one, however, may claim it." The Captain finished.

The Drones' weapons began to hum, "Let the battle royale…commence…"

The monitor went dark and slid back behind the wall. The moment the last of the panels slid into place, chaos reigned. A dozen blasts of bright red energy shot filled the space between the twin mercenaries and the drones.

Six's back suddenly alit in a pillar of fire, blasting him into the air and out of the initial blast zone. Drahs was not so lucky. A dozen blaster bolts hit home and detonated, engulfing the towering figure in smoke and red fire.

Six smirked in triumph, for about a second. With Drahs out of the fight, the dozen or so drones turned their attention on Six, with their weapons sliding into place and focusing on him. The merc let loose a small curse, before rocketing to the side. Bolts of red hot energy filled the air behind him as the drones struggled to maintain a lock on his speeding figure.

On his HUD, Six saw a warning flash. His jetpack had could only last for so long in an atmospheric environment before it began to overheat. He'd need to land soon, and when he did, he'd be at the mercy of the drones.

A bolt of energy grazed his back and the alien let out an annoyed growl. He thrust his large hands forward and redirected his thrusters. This quickly canceled his forward momentum, and with a thrust of his arms, Six went shooting upwards and over towards the drones.

The barrage of blaster bolts hammered against the plating behind him, leaving a trail of red hot and dented steel in his wake. Six rapidly closed in on the drones, and a plan formulated in his mind. His HUD marked each drone with a small purple triangle, highlighting various probabilities and strategies. It also noted the dozen blasts of energy screaming towards him.

Six ignored them, easily dodging and spinning between the bolts of energy, and reached towards his hips instead. Dotting the aliens body armor were several large black spheres along his legs, torso, hips, and arms. The ones on his hips slid open, and Six felt his clawed hands wrap around two blasters. His HUD let loose a shrill proximity alarm.

Ignoring it once again, Six flipped forward and slammed his feet onto the foremost drone. His magnetic boots immediately adhered to its steely skin, letting him stead himself. Without missing a beat, Six aimed his blasters at the space between the drones head and body, a small area with little armor.

Once he got a bead on the target, he hammered the trigger on his blasters. Dark purple streaks of light tore into the drones chassis and internals. Six flipped backwards off the drone in time for it to detonate and go crashing to the ground. He quickly sheathed his blasters and reached behind his back.

A moment later, he landed back on the ground with his legs splayed. He looked up at the drones, which didn't move. The alien smirked to himself, and stood up. With an air of casualness, the alien pressed a button on his wrist. A low beeping sound filled the air, and small red devices flashed on the drones.

And then they exploded.

Every drone found itself engulfed in superheated plasma that quickly melted and warped their armor, before overloading their systems and causing them to detonate. They all crashed to the floor, and lay there on fire.

Six chuckled to himself and dusted his claws off. His employer must have taken a bigger hit on the head than he thought, if he really believed that those drones would be enough to take him down. It was almost insulting re-

The ground suddenly disappeared from beneath Six-Six, who tumbled end over end, before slamming into the far wall. The paneling crumpled from the impact, and Six fell forward onto his hands and knees. He shook his head for a moment and looked up at what had hit him.

A shadow fell over the bounty hunter, cast by a massive two story three legged bio-drone. It's head scraped against the ceiling of the qualifying room, and its massive hands were still smoking from the blast of energy it had hammered Six-Six with.

The bounty hunter quickly got back to his feet and moved to activate his weapon systems, when a black and grey blur flew by him. Drahs shot ahead of Six atop a board constructed of energy and steel, completely unharmed from the barrage of energy that had hit him earlier. And he was heading straight for the titanic bio-drone.

Said drone fired at him several times, but the bounty hunter easily evaded the rather sad shots with ease. He aimed straight for the drone's chest, and covered his face. For a moment, it seemed like Drahs was going to become a nice big smear on the machines chest plate.

Instead, the merc slammed into the drone with the speed and force of a freight train. Its armor plating held for a moment, and then it buckled. Steel and wiring screamed in protest, tearing and snapping. The drone stumbled back, before it's back exploded outwards and Drahs emerged completely unharmed.

He circled around the drone and touched down on the floor. Without saying a word, he flipped the board into his hands. Its corners retracted into a small black sphere that fit into the palm of his, which he slipped into his belt.

The drone behind him let out an ominous groan, and collapsed onto its back with a loud boom.

Drahs spared it a glance, and then looked over at Six, who was resting his hands on his hip. Six was many things, but he was not going to lose out on this contract to some no name merc.

"That is quite enough." They both looked up to see giant squid face of the Captain on screen.

Six let his hand off his hip… for the moment.

The Captain's beady red eyes flicked from Drahs to Six-Six and back again. The entire room was silent as he came to a decision on which of the two mercs would go and bring the Omnitrix to him.

"You both shall find the Omnitrix." The Captain suddenly announced, "He who brings it back to me, shall receive the full bounty. The other shall receive nothing."

The two bounty hunters exchanged silent glares for a moment, and then looked back up at the Captain. The Captain glared at them, "Go. Now." He hissed.

Outside of the massive starship, two objects ejected from its starboard side, and streaked towards the Earth below. From within the ship, the Captain watched as they vanished, and growled angrily to himself.

He knew it was a risk using bounty hunters to find the Omnitrix. They may be tempted to use it for themselves and attempt to steal it out from under his nose. It was only through the fear of his retribution that he knew they would not attempt something so foolish. But if only he knew for certain they would gain no benefit from-

The proximity alarms suddenly rang, "What? What is it!?" he demanded.

"A small ship is approaching on an intercept vector." A drone reported, "It is hailing us."

The Captain narrowed his eyes, "Display on screen."

The bridge screen flared to life and a single large face appeared on it. The Captain immediately went wide eyed, "You… What do you want?"

_Two Day's Later, Earth, Jack's POV…_

Two days after the incident with Animo, things seemed to calm down around Jasper for once. Reconstruction of the neighborhood began, the cops cracked down hard on looters, and no more giant alien robots came after me. Well, no more than the usual anyway.

There was a close call with Miko when she tried following after the bots… again, but I managed to catch her in time and keep her from running after them. Needless to say, she was far from happy about that, but that hardly convinced me to let her go.

But besides that, things were calm. I hung out with the Autobots again at moms urging, to throw off suspicion. I had already been spending a lot of time with mom, so she figured going back to the bots would make things a little normal again.

I listened and spent two days hanging out with the bots, only using the Watch twice in the mean time. Once to go Grey Matter to help mom with some car troubles and the other to stop a very small convenience store robbery by going Heatblast on those idiots.

Let me tell you, nothing stops a criminal dead in their tracks like seeing a seven foot tall walking campfire standing in their way.

But with all of that, today mom and I were doing something a little different. After my fight with Animo, I'd realized something. While I was getting better at using the Watch and the alien forms it provided me with, I was far from perfect.

So, after some searching, mom managed to find a place for me to practice my alien forms in peace. See, one advantage to living in the desert, especially the Nevada desert, was the number of ghost towns scattered throughout it. And with a little research, mom found one about forty minutes out from town about a week ago.

We hadn't had much chance to use it yet, but with things calming down, we'd decided to spend our weekend converting it into a combined obstacle course and shooting range. In fact, with a little help from Grey Matter, XLR8, Four Arms, and Diamondhead, creating a good obstacle course was a lot easier than it sounded.

I was still exhausted when we finished though.

"Okay…" I fell back onto a pile of old lumber and wiped some sweat off my forehead, "fifty degree's out, and it feels like one hundred."

Mom tossed me a bottle of water, which I immediately began to chug, "Well, I envy you." Mom shuddered and pulled her big fuzzy coat tighter around her.

"I'm freezing."

I let out a content sigh and wiped some water of my lips, "I did do most of the work." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're the one with the super-alien watch." She replied.

I chuckled, "Touché."

I hopped back to my feet and shook myself, trying to loosen up. The jacket mom had bought for me (Yes, I was still wearing it.) rested on the pile behind me, and I wore a simple grey T-shirt. The watch was painfully obvious on my arm, but since we were alone, I didn't think it was a big deal.

"Alright." I clapped my hands together, "We ready to give this a shot?"

Mom shrugged, "Up to you honey. You think Grey Matter's design was up to snuff?"

I gave her a deadpan look, "Are you doubting Grey Matter?"

"No, I just don't want you hurting yourself." She replied.

"…Fair enough." I said, and looked back at the obstacle course.

It was a jungle of wooden pillars, walls, ropes, and bridges. You'd be amazed how fast XLR8 can build something if the tools and materials are in the right place. Though the one downside to using mostly wood was that Diamondhead and Heatblast could _not _use the obstacle course, on account of either being too heavy, or possibly sending the entire thing up in flames. Pity.

I rolled my head and took a deep breath, "I think it'll be safe if I use the right alien."

Mom gave a small smile, "Then go for it. I'll time you."

I gave a nod and brought the watch up, searching through the shadowy alien forms that popped up. I passed through XLR8, Grey Matter, and Stinkfly before finally settling on one I hadn't gotten to use too often. Smirking to myself, I slammed the dial down and was engulfed in green light.

Thick orange hair immediately began to sprout from my skin, while my bones and muscle mass began triple. I felt my vision go blurry and then fade, leaving me shrouded in complete darkness. I remained calm though, as my body continued to change. More muscle was packed into my upper body, until I fell forward on all fours. Thick claws grew from my hands and feet, while my legs reshaped themselves into digit-grade limbs.

When the light finally faded, I let out a loud angry snarl. I was now Wildmutt, the odd little blind werewolf… thing that was in the watch. I was easily as big as a horse, covered in thick grey hair with long spines resting along my back, twitching and flexing on instinct. A large black and grey pauldron was strapped to my left shoulder, with the dial proudly on display. I had no eyes to speak of, and along my elongated neck was a series of four gill like slits that expanded and contracted with each breath I took. Along my chest and back were horizontal stripes of a darker shade of orange, though the stripes were patchy at best.

Mom raised a brow, "Well, I suppose its better you turned into him here than back in the living room again."

I let out an incoherent growl. The first time I turned into Wildmutt had been an accident in the middle of the kitchen. The mess had not been easy to clean up.

Mom shook her head and smiled, "Well, go on then Jack. I'll be waiting here."

I let out a small growl and padded forward towards the start of the obstacle course. Now, while Wildmutt technically had no eyes, he was not blind. Instead, he had a very odd mix of echolocation and incredible smell. I could 'see' a series of sketchy pictures of the world around me, while my nose could pick out the faintest of scents to color the picture.

It was amazing. The entire town smelt of old wood, the faint musk of rot heavy in the wind. Among the scents was mom's own scent, which had a very homey scent to it. But I wasn't there to appreciate the many smells of the desert. I was there to run an obstacle course, and Wildmutt was up for the challenge.

My muscles tensed and I crouched down, "Ready?" Mom asked.

A growl was my response, "Go!"

I shot forward, a blur of orange that raced forward towards the first obstacle. A wall of wood that towered a good ten feet into the air with small metal handholds pushing out of it. I scaled it within seconds and leaped from the top of the wall to the ground. Wildmutts instincts took over, and I rolled forward and hopped to my feet.

The next obstacle was a ramp leading up to a series of ropes hanging from several wooden beams. I let out a snarl and ran up the ramp and jumped forward, grabbing onto the first rope. With practiced ease, I swung from rope to rope, like some sort of Tarzan werewolf. I flipped off the last rope and bolted forward off the ramp.

Without missing a beat, I began running through the various obstacle. Jumping from obstacle to obstacle, I felt my breath racing, my heart pounding, the adrenaline flowing through my veins. It was astounding, I felt alive!

I began moving over a large rope crisscross that'd been tied together… when I felt something snap under my feet. Before I even had a moment to react, the entire setup seemed to unravel… Only, there was a three hundred pound Wildmutt on it.

All I got out was a single startled yelp, before I found myself upside down, suspended a few feet into the air, with a dozen ropes tangled around me. I let out an annoyed growl and started thrashing around… didn't help.

I heard a small laugh and realized it was mom, "Having a little trouble?"

"Grrrr…" I growled.

She laughed again and walked up to me, grabbing one of the ropes, "Oh, calm down. This is one of the reasons why we're practicing, right?"

My only response was to huff and look away. Kind of pointless when you don't have any eyes, but still. The dial on my shoulder began to flash and in a blaze of red, I was returned to my normal form. Which, being half of Wildmutts size, fell right in between the ropes. I hit the floor, and saw stars flash through my eyes.

"…Ow…" I squeaked, while mom collapsed into laughter.

I sat up rubbing my head and glared at her, "Gee, thanks for your concern."

She covered her mouth as she laughed, "S-sorry, but it was like something out of a cartoon!"

"Funny." I grumbled.

"Oh stop being such a grump."

She offered a hand to me. I glared at it for a moment, before I sighed and took it, "Let's make sure you didn't break anything." Mom said with a smile.

I nodded and followed her back to the pile of wood where our supplies had been set out. While mom started going through her medical supplies, I grabbed my jacket and slipped it back on. It was already starting to conform to the basic shape of my body, and I'll admit I was enjoying it.

"Alright, take a seat." Mom ordered.

"Okay." I sat down while mom picked up her bag…

And then things got _weird_!

A blast of red energy skimmed by us and hit an old abandoned building behind us, blowing a hole through its old wooden facade. Mom and I yelled and jumped back from the smoldering hole.

"What the-!"

We both looked up from where the blast had come from, in time to see another one skim by and hit the lumber we'd been sitting on a moment ago. It exploded into splinters and fire. Mom let out a pained yell, before falling to the floor.

"Mom!" I ran to her side and helped her up, "You okay?"

She started to wave me off, "Y-yeah, I'll be…I'll be- AGH!" she whimpered in pain when she put pressure on her left leg.

I spared a look at the limb and winced. The cloth had been partially burned away, and a few bits of wood were embedded in the meaty part of her thigh. The skin itself was bright red and a beginning to peel.

Mom looked down when she saw my expression and winced, "Oooh, that hurts…" she muttered.

Steeling my nerves, I put her arm over my shoulder and helped her up, "Yeah, but we need to go!" I ordered.

"R-right…" we started limping towards the exit of the ghost town.

We didn't get more than ten feet, when the sound of jet thrusters caught my attention. I looked behind me to see some sort of… creature, in violet armor landing behind me. It wore a black helmet with red glowing slits where it eyes would be. Grey plating covered its torso, and a large black pack was strapped onto its back.

And an intimidating weapon was held in its clawed hand.

"Mom, move!" we hobbled forward…

Only for a nearby wall to explode and spew dust everywhere. We both fell to the side, just in time for the blaster bolt to miss us and go streaking over the horizon. When the dust cleared, I looked up to see a towering man in black armor standing over us.

"W-what the-"

The figure took a step towards me, and I began scooting back… Only to realize mom was knocked out behind me, with a nasty bruise on her forehead. She was still breathing to my utter relief, but she wasn't waking up.

Scrap.

I looked to the Watch, and saw it was still in recharge mode. To my surprise, the figure followed my gaze, and then looked back at me. I gulped nervously, "L-look, I d-don't know what you a-are, but-"

A blaster bolt slammed into the figure, staggering him. The pink armored creature had shot at him, and clearly didn't appreciate him showing up. The armored man turned to the creature, and reached for something strapped to its belt. I didn't see what though, because I began moving out of the town, trying to drag mom with me.

"Ugh…you're heavy mom." I grumbled.

She let out a small moan, but remained unconscious, much to my chagrin, "We just need to get to the car." I grumbled.

We'd stupidly left our cell phones in the car. And without the Watch, I really needed to call the bots in. Secret or not, I was not risking my mom over my 'secret identity'. I wasn't that stupid.

With teeth grit, I managed to pull mom out to the entrance of the ghost town while the armored beings fought each other. But when I did, I saw something weird. Parked next to mom's car, was a dark grey Lamborghini Aventador.

"Wha-"I shook myself and ran to the car. Maybe someone had heard the commotion and came to check on what we were up to.

"Hey, hey!" I waved my hands as I ran to it.

The car didn't move. In fact, I realized far too late that there was no passenger inside the car, even though it was silently humming next to mom's car. By the time this registered, a familiar shifting sound echoed through the desert.

The panels along the Lamborghini split apart, and the entire car seemed to start falling apart. Only, it wasn't. It immediately began reassembling itself and rising into the air. Arms emerged from the mass of shifting parts, followed by one leg, then another. Finally, a torso and head formed, revealing a Cybertronian towering over me at twenty five feet.

I came to a skidding stop, and fell back on my rear. The Cybertronian was covered in dark grey armor, with a very smooth and orderly design, as well as a meticulous shine to it. Shells where strapped to his shoulders and back, while a thin helm was wrapped around his faceplate.

He had acidic green optics that narrowed at me angrily, "You are my target?"

His entire left servo shifted into a nasty looking hook, "I'm disappointed. But I always finish a job."

His other servo shifted into a glowing green blaster, "Now, hand over the Omnitrix, and I promise your death will be swift."

**A/N: Ladies and gentlemen, we have Lockdown! Ha! How many of you expected this eh? Oh, all of you? Well then…**

**Anyway, massive apologies for vanishing off the face of the earth for the past few weeks. Again, school, work, etc. all got in the way of my writing. I apologize, but I am trying to speed up. And with that said, I have an important question for you all.**

**Do you want to see Another Type of Alien Book 3 updated, or should I skip straight to the Marvel Story? If I do, it will be in the actual crossover section (TF/Marvel), and should be out by tomorrow, or Monday by the latest.**

**Otherwise, remember to review with critique, PM with ideas and questions, and just provide all around feedback.**

**Bye!**


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